University  of  California. 

FROM    THK    I.IliRARY    OK 

DR.     FRANCIS     LIE  B  K  R  , 
Profe.sioi  of  History  and  Law  in  Columbia  Collcarc,  New  York. 


THK  Glt'T   OF 

MICHAEL     REESE 

Of  San  Francisco. 
1873. 


I  I 

AN     INQUIRY 


INTO     THE 


OF    SLAVJSRY. 


°F 


TRACTS    OP 


! 


TO  ALL  THE 


WHITE  INHABITANTS  OF  THE  SLAVE-HOLDING  STATES 


AND    TO    ALL    THE 


LOVERS    OF    THE    UNION 


THROUGHOUT   THE   UNITED    STATES, 


THIS    VOLUME 


IS    MOST    RESPECTFULLY    DEDICATED,    BY 


THE  AUTHOR. 


PLEASE  READ  THE  INTRODUCTION. 


INTRODUCTION. 


A  FRIEND  whom  we  hold  in  high  esteem.,  in  a  work  of  his 
which  was  published  but  a  short  th^Lc  since,  publicly  committed 
us  to  examine  a  Tract  of  the  Rev.  '  .  im  E.  Channing,  on 

"the  Annexation  of  Texas  to  the  _ed  States."  After  such  a 
public  announcement,,  though  unexpected,  we  did  not  feel  at  liberty 
wholly  to  decline.  We  procured  the  tract^and  upon  an  investi 
gation,  found  its  subject  to  be  simply  slavery,  and  its  object  the 
direct,  immediate,  and  indiscriminate  emancipation  of  all  slaves  in 
in  the  slave-holding  states,  to  remain  here,  in  our  midst. 

This  subject  had  been  previously  elaborately  treated  of,  by  Dr. 
Channing  in  two  tracts,  one  of  which  at  least  has  been  stereotyped 
by  the  Anti-slavery  Association  of  New  York.  Thus,  whilst  the 
title  and  dress  were  changed,  and  it  addressed  to  that  distin 
guished  Senator  the  Hon.  HENRY  CLAY,  in  order  to  induce  south 
erners  to  read  it,  the  subject  and  object  were  virtually  the  same. 
These  facts  and  their  intimate  connection  with  the  welfare  of  our 
country  have  chiefly  actuated  us,  to  present  to  the  public  our 
views  on  the  delicate  question  of  SLAVERY,  as  it  exists  in  the  United 
States.  In  the  examination  of  this,  other  subjects  directly  connect 
ed  with,  or  growing  out  of  it,  were  presented,  on  which  we  deem 
ed  it  proper  to  remark. 

On  the  annexation  of  Texas,  we  have  said  comparatively  but 
little.  This  is  a  political  question.  It  is  not  now,  and  perhaps 
never  will  be  again  before  the  American  people.  Dr.  Channing 
doubtless  selected  it,  as  he  did  the  name  of  the  Hon.  Mr.  Clay,  to 
secure  the  circulation  of  his  abolition  tracts  in  the  south.  He 
knew  the  interest  that  southerners  take  in  all  that  concerns  Texas- 
He  knew  that  Mr.  Clay  is  esteemed  an  anti-abolitionist ;  but  by  in 
troducing  his  name  on  the  title  page  of  his  book,  in  connection  too 
with  Texas,  he  hoped  to  get  a  hearing  in  the  slave-holding  states 
for  his  stale  abolition  dogmas, 

Should  the  TEXANS  ever  again  ask  to  become  one  of  our  confed- 
leracy,  we  feel  perfectly  willing  to  leave  the  discussion  on  that 


application  with  politicians,  and  the  decision  upon  it,  with  the 
PEOPLE  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES.  But  the  direct  and  indiscriminate 
abolition  of  all  slaves  in  our  midst,  is  another  subject  and  one  too 
essentially  different  from  it.  With  this  we  humbly  conceive  we 
have  to  do.  The  notice  which  we  have  taken  in  the  pages  of  this 
work  of  "the  Annexation  of  Texas,'7  has  therefore  been  chiefly  to 
expose  the  object  of  Dr.  C.  and  his  abolition  friends,  and  to  illus 
trate  our  own  views  upon  the  question  of  slavery,  united  by 
tliem  with  it,  and  forced  upon  this  NATION  in  spite  of  its  resistance. 

We  expect  abolitionists  to  vent  their  spleen  and  pour  out  their 
fury.  Others  will  perhaps  say  that  we  lean  too  much  to  slavery. 
'i  he  former  we  do  not  dread,  and  humbly  ask  the  latter  not  to 
condemn  us  without  a  hearing.  We  never  were,  are  not  now,  and 
do  not  expect  ever  to  be  a  slaveholder.  We  well  know  that  it  is 
customary  with  some,  to  pronounce  sentence  against  books  which 
they  have  never  read.  Dr.  Johnson  used  to  ask  every  body  whom 
he  heard  praising,  or  condemning  a  book,  "HAVE  YOU  READ  IT?" 
Please  think  of  this  when  you  undertake  to  condemn,  without 
reading  this  volume.  Let  a  WISEACRE  who  thinks  that  wisdom 
shall  die  with  him,  take  the  liberty  to  denounce  works  which  he 
has  never  perused,  and  pass  a  literary  judgment  on  a  man's  efforts, 
without  giving  him  a  hearing,  but  an  honest  man  in  quest  of  truth, 
should  "search  and  see"  for  himself. 

Our  opinions  on  some  points  are  not  perhaps  in  perfect  accor 
dance  with  yours  ;  do  not  condemn  us  for  opinions'  sake.  We  are 
entitled  to  and  have  liberty  to  express  them.  We  write  not  for 
popularity,  or  fame,  or  money.  We  write  for  our  country  and 
country's  cause.  We  too  "have  cherished  the  fondest  hopes  of  the 
preservation  of  this  union,"  and,  although  others  have  written, 
yet  this  is  no  reason  why  we  may  not  "cast  in"  our  "mite."  We 
love  our  country.  Our  ancestors  pledged  their  all  for  its  liberty  and 
defence.  Forced  from  Europe  by  the  red  hot  fires  of  persecution, 
they  sought  a  home  in  the  wilds  of  America,  and  a  house  in  which 
peacefully  to  worship  their  God.  The  household  stuff,  to  the  last 
spoon,  and  all  his  cattle  driven  from  their  fold,  were  sold  by  one  of 
them,  an  aged  minister,  whose  memory  is  dear  to  us.  The  sum 
procured  by  that  sale  he  gave  to  WASHINGTON  the  FATHER  of 
his  country  and  DEFENDER  of  her  rights,  with  these  sententious  re 
marks  :  "Take  it  general,  if  I  never  get  a  penny  in  return.  I 
would  to  God  it  were  a  thousand  times  more.  It  will  help  you  to 
feed  and  clothe  your  poor,  naked,  suffering  soldiers.  I  am  an  old 


man  I  will  go  to  my  family,  pray  for  you  all,  preach  to  the  people,, 
and  write  ballads,  to  cheer  the  hearts  of  your  brave  boys,  whilst 
they  are  fighting  the  British."  Honestly  and  faithfully  has  our 
country  paid  back  every  dollar,  and  all  the  interest  thereon.  And 
shall  we  not  love  that  country,  and  a  union  thus  dear  to  one  so 
DEAR  to  us?  Shall  we  forget  one  of  the  first  lessons  taught  us  by  a 
fond  father  that  now  sleeps  in  the  dust  ?  "My  boys,  never  count 
your  lives  worth  a  groat  when  they  come  in  competition  with  your 
country's  weal.'7 

We  believe  the  cause  for  which  we  write  is  the  cause  of  this 
union,  the  cause  of  our  country,  and,  strange  as  it  may  appear  to 
many,  the  cause  of  humanity  and  religion.  But  at  least  read  and 
hear  what  we  have  to  say,  before  that  you  decide  to  the  contrary. 
The  day  of  decision  is  at  hand.  If  abolitionism  is  to  thrust  its  bla 
zing  torches,  fire-brands  and  death  into  our  midst,  this  UNION  oi 
STATES  is  dissolved  as  sure  as  there  is  a  God  in  heaven. 

In  preparing  the  following  work,  when  we  found  remarks  in 
the  writings  and  speeches  of  others  applicable  to  the  subject  in 
hand,  we  used  them  freely,  either  by  a  selection  of  argument,  oi 
by  a  quotation,  sometimes  verbatim.  These  are  generally  though 
not  always  marked.  In  some  instances  the  remarks  of  an  authoi 
have  been  so  altered,  as  to  render  it  improper  to  do  so  :  and  some 
times  we  forgot  to  mark  them.  We  therefore  consider  it  our  duty 
to  acknowledge  here,  that  we  have  liberally  used  the  histories  oi 
the  United  States  by  Mr.  Graham,  and  Mr.  Bancroft,  and  also  thf 
authors  referred  to  by  them,  some  of  whom  Ave  have  recorded  in 
short  notes.  We  have  quoted  largely  from  the  excellent  works  ol 
Mr.  Paulding  late  secretary  of  the  navy,  and  Mr.  J.  L.  Carey,  o 
Baltimore,  on  Slavery,  and  the  several  answers  of  Professor  Dr.  D 
M.  Reese,  of  New  York,  to  the  abolition  and  anti -slavery  tracts  o: 
Judge  Jay  and  others.  Frequent  reference  was  had  to  Hennmg's 
Statutes  of  Virginia  at  large,  and  we  have  taken  the  liberty  to  in 
sert  a  lengthy  extract  from  the  kind  letter  and  a  considerable  por 
tion  of  the  admirable  Essay,  of  Conway  Robinson,  Esq.  of  Rich 
mond,  Virginia,  "on  the  Constitutional  Rights  as  to  Slave  Property.' 
Here  also  may  be  found  several  speeches  of  distinguished  gentle 
men  in  favor  of  colonization.  We  call  the  reader's  attention  tc 
them,  especially  those  by  President  TYLER,  Hon.  Henry  A.  Wise 
General  Bailey,  Mr.  Rives,  and  Mr.  Maxwell,  of  Virginia.  These 
and  the  remarks  of  the  distinguished  gentlemen  herein  quoted,  ant 
the  letter  of  President  JEFFERSON,  distinctly  point  out  what  ough 


to  be  the  true  policy  of  this  country.  In  the  last  part  of  the  work 
we  give  a  lengthy  quotation  from  the  excellent  defence  in  the  Mis 
sissippi  slave  case,  entitled  "Slaughter  v.  Groves,"  by  the  Hon. 
Robert  J.  Walker,  of  the  United  States  Senate.  The  author  made 
a  free  use  of  colonization  reports,  particularly  those  of  the  Virginia 
and  Maryland  State  Colonization  Societies ;  one  of  the  latter  pre 
pared,  we  believe,  by  the  Rev.  Mr.  McKenney.  Documents  de 
rived  from  various  sources,  have  also  been  quoted,  which  it  is  un 
necessary  to  name.  We  take  special  pleasure  in  acknowledging 
here,  as  we  have  done  elsewhere,  our  obligations  to  General  Henry 
Stewart  Foote,  for  some  valuable  matter  quoted  from  his  "History 
of  TEXAS  and  TEXANS."  We  have  from  his  pages  the  letters  of 
Mr.  Biddle  and  Professor  Hare,  in  extenso.  Knowing  as  we  well 
do  that  every  thing  relating  to  "TEXAS  and  TEXANS,"  is  anxiously 
sought  after  by  the  people  of  the  United  States,  we  commend  to 
the  perusal  of  all,  General  Foote's  History  as  a  most  interesting 
and  entertaining  work. 

Under  other  circumstances  we  might  have  written  more  to  pur 
pose.  May  we  not  hope  to  find  an  apology  in  the  kindness  and 
goodness  of  our  readers,  who  are  requested  to  bear  in  mind  the 
fact,  that  we  were  called  unexpectedly,  when  in  bad  health,  and 
when  but  little  time  was  allowed  us  by  previous  pressing  professional 
engagements,  to  undertake  and  prepare  the  following  pages.  On 
reviewing  the  whole  we  see  many  errors  in  both  the  arrangement 
and  construction  of  sentences.  There  are  quotations  of  quaint  ex 
pressions,  which  might  have  been  left  out,  and  some  errors  in  or 
thography  and  one  or  two  in  dates,  which  escaped  our  notice,  until 
it  was  too  late  to  correct  them.  It  is  due  to  the  printers  to  say,  that 
but  a  few  of  these  should  be  attributed  to  them.  It  will  readily 
occur,  how  difficult  it  must  be  to  print  a  work  correctly,  the  prim- 
Ms  being  in  Baltimore  and  the  author  in  Washington,  without  the 
opport:  ;  ity  of  an  interview.  We  must  in  truth  declare,  we  have 
done  the  best  we  could  under  these  circumstances.  We  have  en 
deavour^]  to  write  as  plainly  as  possible,  because,  whilst  we  de- 
sirp  to  l> ••'  read,  we  want  to  be  understood  by  all.  Pure  in  our  in 
tention:-:  nnu  motives,  assured  of  an  effort  to  do  our  best,  situated 
us  wore-  we,  WR  here  present  the  reader  with  our  views,  plain  and 
unvitrtt',Khcd  as  they  are.  on  a  subject  of  vital  and  enduring  interest 
to  our  C'.jinmon  country,  humbly  asking  an  unprejudiced  and  patient 
hearing,  and  claiming  only  this  reasonable  favour,  HEAR,  BEFORE 

THAT    YOU    CONDEMN    US.  T.  C.  THORNTON. 

Wasfon$ton,  D.  C.,  Jlugust,  1841. 


CONTENTS. 


PAGE. 

Dedication 

Introduction 5 

PART   I. 

That  Slavery  has  formed  a  part  of  the  domestic  institutions  of  every 
country,  savage  and  civilized,  from  time  immemorial.  That  this 
fact  is  not  only  stated  in  history,*but  that  the  existence  of  Slavery 
is  plainly  acknowledged  in  the  Sacred  Writings,  as  one  of  the 
relations  of  society  ;  and  that  the  corresponding  duties  of  master 
and  servant,  are  pointed  out  and  enforced,  in  the  rules  and  regu 
lations  of  both  the  Old  and  New  Testament  Churches 9—57 

PART    II. 

The  fallacy  of  that  application  which  Dr.  Channing  has  made  of  the 
abstract  principles  of  the  moral  law  and  natural  rights  to  men, 
without  respect  to  their  relations,  the  revealed  will  of  God  re 
specting  those  relations,  and  the  volition  of  the  parties  concerned 
in  the  premises.  That  Slavery,  as  it  exists  in  Virginia  and  the 
South,  ought,  therefore,  to  be  relatively  considered 59 — 71 

PART   III. 

The  right  of  property  in  Slaves  examined,  in  connection  with  some 
observations  upon  the  remarks  on  this  subject,  by  Dr.  Channing 
and  others.  A  right  to  all  other  as  well  as  Slave  property,  is  ac 
quired  originally  either  by  conquest  or  purchase.  That  the  right 
to  Slave  property  in  Virginia  and  the  South,  is  the  result  of  pur 
chase,  for  a  valuable  consideration  in  the  first  instance,  and  then 
by  a  regular  descent  or  inheritance  from  progenitors.  That  as 
this  purchase  was  forced  on  them,  their  posterity  ought  not  there 
fore,  in  justice,  to  be  constrained  to  yield  the  same,  procured  as  it 
was  for  an  equivalent,  and  permitted  to  remain  to  their  injury 
among  them,  or  sacrifice  it  in  any  way  to  the  demands  of  those 
who  have  no  right  to  dictate  to  them  on  this  subject 73—87 

PART   IV. 

The  duties  of  those  who  possess  Slaves,  to  themselves  and  their  ser 
vants,  in  view  of  the  providential  relation  that  exists  between 
them.  That  these  duties  have  been,  and  now  are  being  performed 
in  various  ways,  notwithstanding  the  misrepresentations  of  Aboli 
tionists  respecting  the  condition  of  Slaves.  This  fact  proved  by 
the  present  mental,  moral  and  political  condition  of  the  Slaves,  in 
«:he  Slave-holding  States 89—129 


8 
PART   V. 

That  a  direct  and  immediate  emancipation  of  all  Slaves,  now  in  the 
.Slave-holding  States,  unconditionally,  as  it  regards  their  owners, 
is  virtually  the  plan  of  Dr.  Channing,  and  avowedly  that  of  the 
Abolitionists  in  general.  That  such  an  abolition  of  Slavery  here, 
among  us,  being  fraught  with  consequences  so  repulsive  to  the 
feelings  of  the  whites,  and  evidently  so  dangerous  and  subversive 
of  the  safety  of  both  the  white  and  coloured  population,  is  not 
the  proper  remedy  against  the  evil  of  Slavery 131 — 171 

PART   VI. 

The  question,  who  are  Abolitionists?  answered.  That  such  have  nei 
ther  individually  nor  collectively,  a  moral  or  political  right  to 
interfere  in  the  question  of  Slavery  in  the  Slave-holding  States. 
To  the  contrary,  the  constitution  and  laws  of  our  common  coun 
try  bind  them  morally  as  Christians,  who  ought  to  obey  those 
laws  and  politically,  as  citizens,  to  aid  and  protect  the  South,  in 
their  right  of  property  in  Slaves.  The  views  of  Conway  Robin 
son,  Esq.  attorney  at  law  in  Richmond,  Virginia,  on  this  subject  173 — 219 

PART   VII. 

As  Abolitionism  immediate,  direct  and  indiscriminate,  is  not  the  just,  the 
natural,  and  safe  remedy  against  the  evil  o.  Slavery,  the  question 
arises  what  is  that  remedy?  That  question  answered  according 
to  the  advice  of  our  fathers, — the  lights  of  history  and  the  almost 
universal  wish  of  the  Slave-holding  States.  That  the  remedy 
which  we  propose  is  just,  is  natural,  is  safe,  is  practicable,  and 
promises,  from  past  experience,  immense  advantages  to  the  coloured 
population  of  this  country  and  the  savage  tribes  of  Africa 221 — 2S8 

PART   VIII. 

Dr.  Channing's  pamphlet  on  ''the  Annexation  of  Texas."  His  special 
object  in  addressing  it  to  the  Hon,  Henry  Clay.  British  predilec 
tions  its  origin.  This  proved  by  quotations  from  Dr.  C.  Its  sub 
ject  nothing  more  nor  less  than  Slavery.  Its  general  object. 
Texas  discovered  by  La  Salle,  a  part  of  the  Louisiana  purchase, 
and  consequently,  once,  a -component  part  of  the  United  States' 
territory.  Captain  Weaver's  pamphlet  in  answer  to  Goristiza. 
Correspondence  between  Don  Luis  De  Onis  and  Hon.  John  Q- 
Adams.  Articles  of  treaty  between  Spain  and  the  United  States. 
The  letters  of  Mr.  Nicholas  Biddle,  late  President  of  the  United 
States  Bank,  and  Professor  Hare,  of  the  University  of  Pennsyl 
vania,  on  the  Annexation  of  Texas.  Remarks  of  General  Henry 
Stewart  Foote.  Application  of  Dr.  C's  principles  to  himself. 
The  proper  object  of  our  remarks  and  quotations. , 289 — 3  IS 

PART   IX. 

An  Appeal  to  the  North  and  the  South,  with  some  observations  on 
Clarkson's  letter  to  the  Clergy  of  the  Slave-holding  Sfates.  A 
notice  of  the  excellent  speech  of  the  Hon.  Robert  J.  Walker,  be 
fore  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States,  and  some  quotations 
from  it.  Concluding  remarks 319—345 


AN    INaUIRY 

INTO      THE 

HISTORY   OF    SLAVERY. 
PART    I. 

THAT  SLAVERY  HAS  FORMED  A  PART  OF  THE  DOMESTIC  INSTI 
TUTIONS  OF  EVERY  COUNTRY,  SAVAGE  AND  CIVILIZED,  FROM 
TIME  IMMEMORIAL.  THAT  THIS  FACT  IS  NOT  ONLY  STATED 
IN  HISTORY,  BUT  THAT  THE  EXISTENCE  OF  SLAVERY  IS 
PLAINLY  ACKNOWLEDGED  IN  THE  SACRED  WRITINGS,  AS 
ONE  OF  THE  RELATIONS  OF  SOCIETY;  AND  THAT  THE  COR 
RESPONDING  DUTIES  OF  MASTER  AND  SERVANT,  ARE  POINTED 
OUT  AND  ENFORCED,  IN  THE  RULES  AND  REGULATIONS  OF 
BOTH  THE  OLD  AND  NEW  TESTAMENT  CHURCHES. 

THE  intelligent  and  honest  inquirer  who  seeks  to  know 
when  and  where  slavery  had  its  commencement,  will  be 
astonished  to  learn,  that  its  origin  cannot  be  pointed  to 
on  the  page  of  any  history  however  ancient.  In  vain 
may  he  search  for  it  in  musty  volumes,  the  remnants  of 
former  days,  from  which,  we  derive  all  our  authentic 
accounts,  of  those  who  then  lived,  and  gave  laws  to,  and 
directed  the  affairs  of  man.  It  is  true  we  have  the  pro 
gress  of  slavery,  but  there  is  nothing  certain  as  to  that 
period,  in  the  which,  it  first  began  to  exist.  In  all  proba 
bility,  it  had  an  existence  before  the  flood,  and  was  one  of 
the  institutions  of  our  antediluvian  progenitors.  The 
curse  pronounced  upon  Canaan,  by  the  venerable  Noah, 
was,  that  he  should  be  "a  servant  of  servants  unto  his 
brethren,"  the  import  of  which  may  be,  that  the  history  of 
the  world,  should  be  but  a  record  of  this  fact,  that  the 
sons  of  Ham,  in  the  line  of  Canaan  should,  through  all 
2 


10 

time,  be  the  servants  of  those  descended  from  Shem  and 
Japheth.  Whether  this  exposition  be  correct  or  not,  it  is 
certain,  that  after  the  lapse  of  thousands  of  years,  hun 
dreds  of  thousands  of  those  descended  from  that  youngest 
son  of  Ham,  are  found  in  every  clime,  the  almost  willing 
slaves  of  those,  who  have  the  capacity  and  choose  to 
provide  for  and  govern  them.  So  remote  at  least  is  the 
origin  of  slavery,  that  it  is  older  than  all  tradition.  It  has 
been  one  of  the  institutions  of  every  country,  in  every 
part  of  the  globe.  It  had  been  said  that  Australasia 
formed  an  exception  to  this  general  rule,  but  subsequent 
events  and  a  more  intimate  acquaintance  with  the  man 
ners  and  customs,  and  a  proper  understanding  of  the 
regulations  of  their  various  castes,  alike  point  out  to  us, 
the  mastejr  and  the  slave,  the  one  destined  to  rule,  the 
other  to  serve :  at  least,  the  one  in  a  bondage  the  most 
abject,  the  other  exalted,  and  in  the  exercise  of  rights 
growing  out  of  this  exalted  relation.  It  will  also  be  seen, 
that  there,  in  many  places,  woman  becomes  the  abject 
"bond  slave"  of  man,  and  whilst  the  latter  by  custom, 
which  is  law,  is  free  from  servitude,  the  former  is  a  slave 
of  slaves.  A  thousand  such,  as  slaves,  stand  to  watch  and 
guard  the  palace  of  their  master,  and  wait  and  attend 
upon  him  and  perform,  as  do  the  female  part  of  the  abo 
rigines  of  America,  all  the  duties,  however  menial,  per 
formed  by  slaves.  To  them  it  belongs  to  toil,  to  bear 
burdens,  and  in  fine  to  do,  abroad  and  at  home,  all  that  is 
done,  either  for  the  preservation  of  life,  or  the  sustenance 
and  support  necessary  to  its  comfort. 

The  civilized  nations  of  antiquity  owned  slaves.  The 
Egyptian  history  shows  not  only  the  existence  of  slavery, 
as  one  of  the  institutions  of  that  ancient  empire,  but  that 
the  earliest  monuments  of  that  renowned  nation,  as  well 
as  those  of  a  comparatively  later  date,  may  be  traced  to 
that  institution.  Doubtless  there  were  many  slaves  in 
Egypt,  before  that  Joseph  was  sold  for  twenty  pieces  of 
silver  to  the  Ishmaelites,  and  carried  thither,  to  be  dispo 
sed  of.  And  we  know  that  his  brethren  were,  for  four 
hundred  years,  in  that  "land  of  bondage,"  and  by  them,  no 
doubt  those  lofty  pyramids,  those  vast  catacombs,  and 
immense  labyrinths,  which  have  survived  "the  war  of 


11 

elements"  and  the  lapse  of  time,  were  all  formed.  And 
these  Israelites  whilst  in  Egypt,  were  so  deeply  imbued 
with,  instead  as  some  say,  "washed  and  saved  from  the 
spirit  and  practice  of  slavery,"  that  their  founder — the 
founder  of  both  the  kingdom  of  Israel  and  the  Jewish 
nation,  was  the  master  and  purchaser  of  slaves,  and, 
every  Patriarch  the  absolute  owner  of  his  entire  house 
hold. 

The  Hebrews,  it  is  true,  left  Polytheism  in  Egypt,  "the 
house  of  their  bondage,"  but  by  their  own  law,  the  law  of 
God,  they  carried  slavery  with  them  into  the  promised 
land.  Yea  more,  a  Hebrew  master  owned  the  wife,  the 
children  and  posterity  of,  even  an  emancipated  slave,  and 
was  not  accountable  for  his  treatment  to  that  slave,  did 
he  live  but  one  day  after  an  injury  received,  because 
according  to  the  Mosaic  law,  the  slave  is  "his  master's 
money."  All  who  have  ever  read,  much  less  studied  the 
political  economy  of  that  nation,  also  know,  that  the  in 
stitution  of  slavery  perpetual,  not  only  existed,  but  that  a 
creditor  might  actually  sell  into  bondage  the  family  of  his 
debtor,  aye,  more,  a  man  might  sell  "his  own  daughter." 
Nor  were  these  the  only  nations  of  antiquity  who  had,  as 
one  of  their  institutions,  that  of  slavery.  The  Scythians, 
those  ancient  inhabitants  of  the  desert  established  slavery, 
throughout  the  vast  plains  and  forests  of  the  unknown 
north.  Babylon,  Tyre,  and  all  the  countries  around 
Palestine,  had  slavery  as  one  of  their  institutions.  The 
wrath  of  Achilles,  sung  of  by  Homer,  in  poetic  strains, 
was  excited  by  the  demand  of  Agamemnon,  the  mighty 
king  of  men,  for  the  beautiful  Briseis,  a  Phrygian  slave. 
He  commanded  by  right,  the  Grecian  bands,  that  waged 
a  ten  years'  war  around  the  walls  of  Troy.  In  the  quarrel 
for  this  slave  originated  dissensions,  which  prolonged  for 
years  the  termination  of  that  contest.  Grecian  dames, 
\vi  they  went  forth  for  pleasure,  or  business,  were  ac- 
coi  ,.ied  and  surrounded  by  crowds  of  slaves.  The 
commercial  cities  of  Greece  were  markets,  where  slaves 
of  foreign  lands  were  exposed  for  sale.  Yea  more,  Greek 
met  and  enslaved  Greek,  and  the  hero  of  Macedon,  sold 
the  men  of  his  own  language  into  helpless  slavery ;  so 
that  in  each  Grecian  Republic,  slavery  seemed  to  be  an 


12 

indispensable  element.  The  slave  markets  of  Rome  were 
filled  with  men  of  every  complexion  and  every  clime. 
There  the  father  had  the  power  to  sell  his  children,  the 
creditor  his  insolvent  debtor,  and  the  warrior  his  captive; 
and  the  influence  of  this  institution  was  felt  in  the  bosom 
of  every  family. 

During  the  middle  ages,  the  channels  of  slavery  it  is 
true  were  changed.  Formerly  negro  slaves  were  seen  in 
classic  Greece ;  the  traffic  in  them  was  commemorated 
by  their  oldest  historian,  Heroditus,  and  as  we  have  seen 
it  was  carried  thence  throughout  the  Roman  Empire :  but 
latterly,  say  from  A.  D.  nine  hundred  and  ninety  down, 
all  our  accounts  not  only  confirm  its  existence,  but  go  to 
establish  our  position,  that  slavery  has  existed  as  one  of 
the  institutions  of  every  clime,  and  country.  The  Saxori 
race  carried  slavery,  in  its  most  repulsive  forms,  into 
England,  where  the  price  of  a  man  was  only  four  times 
the  price  of  an  ox.  The  importation  of  foreign  slaves 
was  freely  tolerated  on  the  continent,  there  Saxons  sold 
their  own  kindred  into  slavery,  and  even  after  the  conquest 
in  1102,  slaves  were  exported  from  England  to  Ireland, 
until  the  reign  of  Henry  the  II.  when  the  Irish,  who,  often 
have  been,  more  noble  than  their  tyrant  rulers,  the  En 
glish,  decreed  in  mercy,  the  emancipation  of  English 
slaves,  in  the  Emerald  Isle,  nor  would  that  traffic  have 
been  otherwise  staid.  On  the  shores  of  the  Baltic  the 
Germans  carried  on  the  slave  trade.  The  Dnieper  was 
the  high  way  through  which  Russians  transported  slaves 
to  Constantinople ;  slaves  too,  which  had  been  purchased 
in  their  own  country;  slaves  who  often  submitted  to 
bondage,  and  that  the  hardest,  to  relieve  themselves  from 
want  and  wretchedness  the  most  absolute. 

The  long  wars  between  the  German  and  Sclavonic 
tribes  filled  France  with  slaves;  so  that  slavery  itself  and 
Sclavonic  became  synonymous  terms,  and  our  English 
word  SLAVE  is  the  enduring  monument  of  that  very  traf 
fic.  At  Lyons  and  Verdun,  in  France,  the  Jews  pur 
chased  them  as  slaves  for  their  Saracen  customers ;  but 
in  Sicily  and  Italy  the  children  of  Africa  and  Asia  were 
brought  for  sale.  Aye,  more  !  even  the  child  of  the  desert, 
far-famed  for  his  love  of  offspring, — we  mean  the  Arab, — 


13 

in  his  extreme  poverty,  pawned  his  children,  the  strength 
of  his  own  bowels,  to  Italian  merchants,  vainly  hoping  to 
redeem  them.  At  Rome,  the  imperial,  the  "eternal"  city, 
were  Christian  slaves  long  sold,  to  meet  the  domestic 
demands  of  the  followers  of  Mohammed.  Without  refe 
rence  to  Christianity  or  infidelity,  the  Venicians  purchased 
at  Rome,  and  other  places,  those  slaves  whom  they  sold 
to  the  Arabs  in  Sicily  and  Spain,  at  a  time  too  when 
laws,  ecclesiastical  as  well  as  those  of  Venice,  wrere  in 
force,  expressly  prohibiting  it.  Then  the  captive  Chris 
tian  had  no  other  alternative  than  servitude  or  apostacy ; 
but  the  captive  infidel  had  servitude  any  how,  being  often 
treated  worse  by  his  Christian  master  than  was  the  slave 
purchased  by  one  of  the  believers  in  the  Koran. 

In  the  days  of  the  crusaders  the  price  of  a  war-horse 
was  three  slaves,  and  the  father  of  Virginia  herself,  as 
we  all  know,  had  been  the  slave  of  a  tyrant  master.  In 
three  thousand  battles  between  Christians  and  Moors,  for 
seven  centuries,  the  captives  were  reciprocally  doomed 
to  bondage,  and  bigotry  and  revenge  brought  in  the 
place  of  bondage  a  more  horrible  evil,  utter  extermina 
tion.  The  number  of  slaves  sold  in  the  Christian  coun 
tries  of  France  and  Italy  alone,  exceeded  the  entire  num 
ber  of  Christians  ever  sold  by  the  pirates  of  Barbary.  The 
ministers  of  religion  themselves,  who  plead  against  Chris 
tian  heresy,  did  not  sympathize,  to  say  the  least,  with  the 
afflictions  of  the  unbeliever.  When,  therefore,  the  Moors, 
after  their  conquest  by  the  Spaniards,  retired  to  Africa, 
their  mercantile  cities  became  nests  of  pirates,  who,  seiz 
ing  on  all  Christians  whom  they  could  take,  reduced  them 
to  slavery,  and,  on  the  principle  of  retaliation,  all  Afri 
cans  were  considered  by  all  Christians  as  Moors,  and 
were  thus  likewise  doomed  to  perpetual  bondage.  Big 
otry  favored  a  compromise  with  avarice,  the  infidel  not 
being  included  in  the  pale  of  humanity,  however  it  might 
feel  inclined  to  emancipate  even  the  oppressed  serfs 
themselves. 

But  let  it  not  be  supposed  that  the  Christian  white  man 
is  the  author  or  originator  of  African  slavery.  O  no !  As 
anglo-Saxon  sold  anglo-Saxon  into  bondage,  and  Hebrew 
sold  or  bought  Hebrew,  as  well  as  foreign  slaves,  and 

a* 


14 

Greek  enslaved  Greek,  so  did  caravans  of  slave  dealers 
carry  on  from  time  immemorial,  as  we  have  already  sug 
gested,  beyond  the  oldest  traditions,  a  traffic  in  negro 
slaves,  among  negroes  themselves.  The  slaves  and  gold 
of  central  Africa  were  exchanged  in  the  cities  and  towns 
of  Nigritia,  uninterruptedly,  for  Saracen  and  European 
luxuries;  and,  because  that  commerce  was  profitable,  it 
was  carried  on  under  the  endurance  of  the  vast  horrors 
of  a  parching  thirst,  under  a  tropical  sun,  without  shade, 
without  water,  and  at  the  expense  of  being  buried,  whole 
caravans  at  a  time,  in  the  sands  of  the  desert.  From 
the  native  regions  of  the  Ethiopian  race  a  system 
of  slavery  wras  carried  into  the  very  heart  of  Egypt,  as 
well  as  on  the  coasts  of  Barbary,  by  these  Moorish  mer 
chants, — long,  very  long,  before  Columbus  found  a  path 
over  the  wide  Atlantic  to  the  new  world.  Indeed  this 
traffic  was  in  successful  operation  at  least  a  half  century 
before  the  discovery  of  the  new  world,  among  Euro 
peans,  and  was  fully  established  by  them,  long,  very 
long,  before  the  colonization  of  the  United  States.  The 
history  of  Europe,  and  especially  the  history  of  Eng 
land,  is,  till  very  lately,  if  not  now,  but  the  history  of 
slavery,  as  we  shall  see  in  the  sequel.  When  Antony 
Gonzalez  was  ordered,  after  his  voyage  to  Cape  Blanco, 
to  restore  his  Moorish  captives,  from  whom  the  Portu 
guese  desired  to  obtain  all  the  information  they  could  of 
the  regions  near  that  remarkable  place,  the  Moors  not 
only  remunerated  him  with  presents  of  "gold,  but  also 
<(  negro  slaves  having  curled  hair."  They,  on  perceiving 
how  profitable  a  trade  in  such  slaves  might  become,  com 
menced  at  once  a  traffic  in  them  with  the  Europeans,  and 
with  them  the  Spaniards  vied  in  carrying  it  on.  The 
merchants  of  Seville  imported  them  until  negro  slavery 
not  only  abounded  there,  but  was  fully  established  ail 
through  Andalusia  before  that  the  mighty  mind  of  Colum 
bus  had  conceived  his  voyage  of  discovery  across  the  At 
lantic,  to  gain,  as  he  fancied,  a  foothold  on  the  fabled 
islands  Cipango. 

After  the  discovery  of  the  new  world  by  that  great 
man,  its  shores  were  visited  regularly,  that  from  thence 
laborers  might  be  procured,  and  the  native  Indian  inhabi- 


15 

tants  of  Hispaniola  were  imported  into  Spain-  These 
slavers,  trading  on  those  coasts,  entered  almost  every 
harbor  in  search  of  slaves;  so  that,  on  the  western  shores 
of  the  vast  Atlantic,  and  especially  those  along  the  entire 
eastern  boundary  of  the  United  States,  from  the  Gulf  of 
Mexico  to  that  of  St.  Lawrence,  river  by  river  was 
entered  in  quest  of  slaves.  The  Indians  could  not  be 
tempted  to  become  factors  of  slave  merchants.  The  con 
sequence  was  that  the  slaves  obtained  from  Florida  to 
Newfoundland  were  mostly,  if  not  altogether,  procured 
by  fraud  or  force.  This  is  not  all :  slavers  penetrated  the 
extensive  Mississippi  valley,  and  from  thence  procured 
slaves  with  which  to  supply  the  markets  and  demands  in 
the  West  India  Islands  and  in  Europe.  Aye,  more !  Co 
lumbus  himself  sent  from  thence  five  hundred  slaves, 
native  Americans,  to  be  publicly  sold  at  Seville.  And 
when  Isabella  did  afterward  consent  to  the  emancipation 
of  Indian  slaves  then  in  Europe,  in  grants  made  at  the 
very  same  time,  she  claimed  the  right  to  one-fourth  part 
of  all  slaves,  from  regions  that  might  be  afterward  disco 
vered,  and  did  not  extend  the  favor  of  her  emancipation 
grant  to  either  the  Moors  or  Negroes  of  Africa. 

He  who  will  investigate  the  subject  will  find  the  prac 
tice  of  selling  North  American  Indians  continued  near 
two  centuries.  Yea,  more  !  the  articles  of  the  New  Eng 
land  confederacy  class  persons  taken  in  war  as  a  part  of 
the  spoils,  and  in  pursuance  of  the  principle  involved  in 
this  article  the  orphan  offspring  of  king  Philip,  and  his 
mother,  the  Pequod  tribe  of  Indians  in  Connecticut,  the 
captives  of  the  treacherous  Waldron  in  New  Hampshire, 
and  the  Annanon  tribe,  were  all  alike  doomed  to  perpet 
ual  bondage,  and  the  New  Englanders  sought  on  the 
coasts  of  Virginia  and  Carolina  to  kidnap  the  Indians 
whom  the  colonists  south  of  the  Potomac  would  not 
enslave,  when  they  could  obtain  no  more  at  home  for 
disposition.  The  very  year  in  which  Charles  V.  sailed 
against  Tunis  to  rescue  Christian  slaves  from  African 
bondage,  a  monopoly  was  granted  and  sold  to  European 
slavers  for  the  transportation  of  vast  quantities  of  slaves 
from  Africa,  and  for  a  portion  of  this  lucrative  monopoly 
a  monarch  of  one  of  the  free  states  of  Europe  stipulated 


16 

most  positively.  This  stipulation  not  being  attended  to 
ultimately  constituted  one  of  the  ingredients  in  that  series 
of  wars  which  ultimately  led  to  the  freedom  and  indepen 
dence  of  the  United  States  of  America. 

When  that  rich  return  cargo  of  sugar,  ginger,  and  pearls, 
the  price  of  a  cargo  of  slaves,  brought  and  sold  by  John 
Hawkins,  from  America,  attracted  the  notice  of  Queen 
Elizabeth,  she,  immediately,  not  only  consented  to  protect 
by  her  power  and  that  of  the  nation,  the  slave  trade,  but 
at  once  engaged  in  it  personally,  and  participated  in  its  pro 
fits,  so  far  as  to  become  one  of  the  partners  of  the  Hawkins 
monopoly  ;  and  thus  that  Pious  LADY,  the  HEAD  OF  THE 
CHURCH,  virtually  endorsed  and  became  responsible  for 
all  the  vileness  and  cruelty  of  the  cruel  Hawkins,  perhaps 
the  most  unmerciful  and  unfeeling  slaver  that  ever  crossed 
the  deep.  Afterwards  engaged  and  protected  by  this 
Royal  Virgin,  his  pious  partner  and  mistress,  in  this  profit 
able  trade,  he  on  one  occasion  burned  down  a  village,  con 
taining,  according  to  his  own  confession,  at  least  eight 
thousand  five  hundred  inhabitants,  and  destroyed  the  same 
in  toto,  obtaining  as  a  remnant  for  transportation,  all  saved 
from  its  ruins,  which  amounted  on  counting  them,  only 
to  two  hundred  and  fifty.  This  fair  partner  of  the  slave 
trader  Hawkins,  protected  him  whilst  constantly  engaged 
in  smuggling  slaves  into  Spanish  ports,  contrary  to  their 
own  laws,  and  the  express  stipulations  of  an  existing 
treaty. 

Thus  we  see  that  on  both  sides  of  the  water  at  the  same 
time,  this  trade  was  carried  on,  by  the  ancestry  of  those 
who  are    now    blushing   at   the  thought  of    slavery,  or 
the  most  indirect  participation  in  any  of  its  services,  pro 
ducts,  or  advantages,  and  those  too,  who  cannot  consent 
for  the  ministers  of  Christ's  gospel  even  to  have  the  benefit 
of  that  support  which  a  Missionary  Society  can   a 
them,  when  any  slave  owner  has  contributed  a  dollar. 
Yes!  the  men  whose  ancestors  traded  in  slaves,  whos« 
families  and  houses  were  built  up  by  slave  trading,  \vh< 
now  enjoy  the  product  thereof,  dwelling  in  lofty  palacei 
as  we  shall  see  in  the  sequel ;  who  forced  slaves  on  tin 
present  slave  holding  states  south  of  tlu>  Potomac,   to 


17 

reasons  which  are  obvious,  and  if  not,  shall  hereafter  be 
shown;  are  now  decrying  the  slavery  of  the  south  as  an 
iniquity,  not  to  be  washed  out  of  the  hearts,  characters, 
habits  and  souls  of  those,  whose  progenitors  had  them 
thus  forced  upon  them  by  Dutch,  British,  Spanish,  Portu 
guese,  and  other  cupidity  :  and  who  now  would  be  clear  of 
them,  if  any  consistent  and  safe  method  could  be  pointed 
out  for  their  freedom.  In  vain  may  abolitionists  attempt, 
by  quoting  the  case  of  James  Smith  and  Thomas  Keyser, 
two  pious  members  of  the  Boston  church,  who  were  en 
gaged  in  transporting  slaves  from  the  coasts  of  Guinea  to 
the  colonies  of  America,  to  show  that  Boston  did  denounce 
this  traffic,  as  they  do.  In  vain  may  they  plead  the  pas 
sage  and  existence  of  laws  against  that  traffic,  laws  in 
those  days  were  but  a  dead  letter,  and  especially  the  laws 
against  slavery.  Those  of  New  England,  like  the  laws 
of  Penn's  Quaker  Assembly  of  Pennsylvania,  were  only 
nominal,  not  being  in  general  at  all  enforced. 

On  an  examination,  it  will  be  also  seen,  that  not  only 
did  slavery  exist  in  every  clime,  but  there  are  found  those 
every  where,  who  are  ready,  notwithstanding  their  pro 
fessions,  to  aid  in  carrying  it  on.  We  know  that  it 
is  customary  to  moralize  on  the  abstract  questions  of 
justice,  liberty  and  right,  and  that  many  who  have  been 
either  personally,  or  in  their  ancestry,  the  abettors  of 
this  evil,  are  mostly  among  the  first  to  find  fault  and 
condemn  it ;  but  see  how  true  this  is  when  viewed 
in  application  to  the  introduction  of  slavery  into  the 
United  States,  which  should  also  be  considered  in  con 
nexion  with  what  is  said  about  the  liberty  of  England, 
of  New  England,  and  the  slavery  of  the  south.  It  will 
appear  plainly  to  all  who  read  its  history,  that  the  cupidity 
of  the  Dutch,  the  English,  and  New  Englanders,  was  in 
fact  the  true  cause  of  the  commencement  and  continuance 
of  slavery  in  the  southern  states  on  such  an  extensive 
scale. 

It  has  ever  been  the  policy  of  Great  Britain  to  turn  her 
colonies  to  the  greatest  present  account,  without  reference 
to  their  peculiar  present  or  future  interest.  England  saw 
that  the  tobacco  trade  could  in  Maryland,  Virginia,  and 


18 

other  states  be  made  to  her,  a  great  source  of  revenue. 
On  the  same  principle  that  she  has  encouraged  the  constant 
introduction  of  all  kinds  of  ardent  spirits  into  Ireland,  the 
manufacture  of  and  traffic  in  opium  in  the  east ;  but,  that 
of  various  fabrics  in  the  north  ;  on  this  same  principle  we 
say,  did  she  insist  upon  and  encourage  the  cultivation  of 
a  nauseous  weed,  not  less  deleterious  to  human  health,  in 
the  long  run,  than  ardent  spirits  or  opium.  The  wretch 
edness,  and  poverty,  and  crime  of  Ireland,  might  come  up 
before  her,  but  what  of  that?  The  mania,  and  paralysing 
effects  of  opium,  bringing  on  mental,  moral  and  physical 
ruin,  may  stare  her  in  the  face  in  all  the  east ;  but  what 
of  that  ?  Her  colonies  might  have  to  cry  for  bread,  and 
actually  be  endangered  whilst  forced  by  the  custom 
house  and  revenue  laws  to  cultivate  tobacco ;  but  what 
of  that  ?  Though  wretchedness,  and  poverty,  and  want, 
and  suffering  be  the  result,  it  must  be  done ;  she  knows 
not  to  pity.  Oppression  extreme,  is  now  and  ever  has 
been  in  that  policy,  which  gives  manufacturing  interests  at 
home  such  a  monopoly,  as  to  make  the  colonies  depend 
ent  wholly  for  their  fabrics.  Herself  the  merchant,  and 
the  only  merchant  from  whom  they  are  permitted  to  buy. 
To  augment  her  own  income  is  the  great  moving  princi 
ple  with  England.  It  was  seen  that  the  planters  could 
accomplish  but  little  without  an  augmentation  of  force. 
It  was  alike  impolitic  and  unsafe  to  enslave  the  Indians, 
and  thus  excite  their  friends,  perhaps  whole  tribes,  to  be 
come  the  enemies  of  the  colonists,  and  the  avengers  of 
their  oppressed  neighbors.  But  to  accomplish  her  ends 
and  carry  out  her  policy,  Great  Britain  did  an  act,  which 
unto  this  day,  among  the  many  foul  blots  on  her  charac 
ter,  is  one  which  the  page  of  faithful  history  in  the  delin 
eation  of  particulars,  will  hand  down  to  posterity  as  the 
foulest. 

"She  emptied  all  at  once,  her  prisons  of  its  prisoners  ; 
she  made  the  colonies  a  Botany  Bay,  and  sent  thither  as 
slaves  and  servants,  as  many  as  one  hundred  at  a  time,  of 
idle,  dissolute  persons  who  were  in  custody  for  various 
misdemeanors  in  London,  so  that  the  felons  and  vagabonds 
transported,  brought  such  evil  report  upon  the  place,  that 


19 

some  did  choose  to  be  hanged  ere  they  would  go  thither, 
and  were."  These  are  the  remarkable  words  of  that  re 
markable  man,  Capt.  John  Smith,  who  considered  this 
among  the  most  barbarous  acts  of  the  British  Government. 

Great  Britain  doubtless  supposed  that  such  injustice 
would  be  overlooked,  in  consideration  of  the  assistance 
that  would  be  derived  from  them,  in  executing  among 
the  colonists,  their  plans  of  industry  which  were  then 
daily  extending  themselves.  Here  virtually  commenced 
slavery  in  the  colonies;  not  in  England.  Few  can  point 
to  the  time  when  there  was  no  slavery  in  England.  This 
act  prepared  the  way  for  the  introduction  of  negro  slavery, 
by  a  Dutch  ship,  which  sailed  up  the  James  river  without 
any  previous  knowledge  or  purpose  on  the  part  of  the 
colonists,  and,  when  it  was  afterwards  found  by  Great 
Britain,  that  these  hardy  sons  of  Africa,  accustomed  to 
the  endurance  of  heat  under  a  vertical  sun,  could  better 
cultivate  -and  extend  the  fields  of  the  colonists,  she  engag 
ed  in  that  work  herself  as  we  shall  hereafter  see,  monop 
olizing  the  entire  African  slave  trade  of  the  whole  earth. 

The  Supply  of  white  servants  for  the  colonies,  often 
as  stated  above,  of  the  vilest  sort  or  kind  of  men,  from 
English  prisons  and  alms  houses,  became  a  regular  busi 
ness,  we  may  add  that  it  is  a  fact,  as  well  authenticated 
as  any  other,  perhaps,  in  history,  that  a  class  of  men 
rose  up,  who  were  nicknamed  "  spirits,"  that  used  to 
delude  young  persons,  servants  and  idlers,  to  embark  for 
America,  as  a  land  of  spontaneous  plenty,  and  "white 
servants,  were  a  usual  article  of  traffic."  These  were 
actually  sold  in  England,  to  be  transported  into  the 
colonies,  and  were  there  re-sold  to  the  highest  bidders, 
under  the  hammer,  or,  like  negroes,  were  purchased  on 
ship-board. 

This  dealing  was  not  only  carried  on  with  English 
slaves  but  with  Scots,  who  were  taken  in  the  fields;  also 
the  Royalist  prisoners,  after  the  battle  of  Worcester, 
then,  the  leaders  of  the  insurrection  of  Penruddoc,  all 
of  whom  were  shipped  to  America.  The  poor  Catholics 
of  Ireland  were  taken,  and  sent  over  to  the  colonies, 
and  there  sold,  under  circumstances,  not  less  atrocious 


20 

and  vile,  than  the  acts  of  British  slavers  on  the  coasts 
of  Africa.  Men  of  influence  at  Court  scrambled  for  the 
thousand  prisoners,  who,  in  consequence  of  the  insur 
rection  of  Monmouth,  were  to  be  transported,  just  as  they 
would  for  any  other  merchantable  commodity.  From 
slaves  the  most  abject  and  vile,  these  as  it  respected  their 
treatment,  differed  only,  in  the  time  or  duration  of  their 
servitude. 

"Judge  Jeffries,"  said  king  James  II.,  in  a  letter, 
"is  nearly  done  his  circuit,  he  has  condemned  several 
hundred  scoundrels,  several  of  whom  are  already  execut 
ed,  more  are  to  be,  and  others  are  to  be  sent  to  our  plan 
tations"  This  is  the  language  of  the  sovereign  of  our 
ancestors.  The  prisoners  condemned  were  a  saleable 
commodity,  and  his  courtiers  begged,  after  an  insurrection, 
of  their  monarch,  such  presents  of  their  countrymen  for 
sale,  as  his  liberality  would  bestow.  Jeffries  heard  of 
this,  declared  they  were  worth  "  ten  or  fifteen  pounds  a 
piece,"  and,  said  the  astute  and  learned  judge,  "if  your 
majesty  orders  these,  as  he  has  designed,  persons  who 
have  not  suffered  in  the  service,  will  runaway  *with  the 
booty."  At  length  the  spoils  were  divided.  The  con 
victs,  part  persons  of  family  and  education,  accustomed 
to  ease  and  elegance,  were  sent  off.  "Take  all  care," 
wrote  the  monarch,  under  the  countersign  of  Sunderland 
to  the  Governor  of  Virginia,  "Take  all  care  that  they 
continue  in  service  ten  years  at  least,  and  that  they  be  not 
permitted  to  redeem  themselves,  by  money  or  otherwise 
until  that  term  expires.  "Prepare,"  continues  he,  "a 
bill  for  the  Assembly  of  our  colony  with  such  clauses  as 
shall  be  requisite  for  that  purpose."  But,  thank  heaven! 
no  VIRGINIA  LEGISLATURE  ever  sanctioned  such  malice. 
So  far  from  this,  the  history  of  the  day  proves  that  she 
shortly  after  freed  the  whole  of  them. 

The  history  of  slavery  is  but  the  history  of  Europe, 
and  especially  is  it  the  history  of  England,  with  all  her 
boast  of  MAGNA  CHARTA  and  British  Liberty.  From 
the  throne  to  the  common  sailor,  floating  on  the  wave, 
men  of  all  religions,  vied  in  efforts  to  participate  in  a 
traffic  which  yielded  so  much  for  so  little.  The  trade 


21 

was  profitable,  and  mayors,  councilmen,  and  courts,  kid 
napped  their  own  citizens,  and  citizen's  sons,  and  divided 
the  spoils. 

One  great  object  of  these  remarks  is  to  establish  the 
fact,  which,  it  is  easy  to  do,  by  a  reference  to  history, 
that  the  ancestry  of  those  who  are  now  the  most  forward 
to  decry  slavery  as  an  institution,  and  any  traffic  or  sale 
of  slave  or  slaves  under  any  circumstances  as  altogether 
immoral,  and  indeed  immoral  in  the  extreme,  were  really 
the  most  active  in  it,  and  were  the  instruments  of  riveting 
it  with  all  its  evils,  on  the  very  vitals  of  Maryland,  Vir 
ginia  and  the  south,  in  order  to  satisfy  the  demands  of 
their  own  avarice. 

This  must  be  apparent  to  all,  who  consider  with  can 
dor,  the  entire  history  of  the  trade  in  slavery.  By  these 
it  will  be  found  that  the  system  was  fastened  on  Virginia 
and  the  south,  and  interwoven  in  all  the  operations  of 
that  part  of  America  without  any  consent  on  the  part  of 
the  corporations,  or  the  emigrants.  Introduced  by  the 
mercantile  avarice  of  foreign  nations,  riveted  on  them  by 
the  policy  of  England;  emphatically  called  the  mother 
country,  without  regard  to  the  interests  or  will  of  the 
colonies.  The  colonists  knew  that  slavery  was  not  only 
practised  by  all  nations,  but  that  it  had  formed  a  part  of 
the  institutions  of  every  country,  from  time  immemorial. 
No  wonder  then  that  they  should  submit  to  it,  we  would 
rather  wonder  that  any  one  of  them  fought  against  it  so 
valiantly,  constantly,  and  firmly,  as  did  Virginia.  True, 
at  the  north  they  engaged  in  kidnapping  the  Indians 
and  subjecting  the  same  as  we  have  seen  to  perpetual 
servitude.  True,  at  the  east,  the  tatooed  chief,  king 
Phillip,  cried  "my  heart  breaks  now  that  I  am  ready 
to  die  in  an  agony  of  grief,"  when  his  poor  harmless  boy, 
an  only  child,  the  future  sachem  of  his  tribe,  was  carried 
off  by  the  citizens  of  Massachusetts  to  Bermuda  and  sold 
in  bondage,  the  last  of  the  Massasoit  family,  to  toil  under  its 
broiling  suns,*  and  this  was  the  case  with  thousands  of 
others. 

*See  Bancroft,  vol.  2,  from  page  99  to  page  106,  also  Hubbard's  Indian 
Wars,  56.  Calender's  Century  Sermon.  Church's  Indian  Wars.  Mather's 
History  of  Troubles  with  Indians.  Anne  Rowlandson's  Captivity.  Wheeler's 
Narrative  in  History  New  Hampshire.  History  Massachusetts,  coll.  1, 148,  6 
Matthew  Davis,  in  Morton,  453  and  '6 
3 


22 

At  the  commencement  the  African  slave  trade  was 
carried  on  chiefly  by  the  Portuguese,  Spaniards  and 
Dutch,  with  an  occasional  supply  afforded  by  the  efforts 
of  British  and  other  slavers.  But,  upon  an  examination 
of  the  history  of  this  traffic,  it  appears  that  in  time  the 
British  nation,  under  the  assiento,  the  most  remarkable 
feature  in  the  treaty  of  Utrecht,  usurped  and  claimed  it 
as  a  monopoly,  and  as  far  as  it  could  well  be  done,  the 
colonists  on  and  north  of  the  Hudson,  were  actively  en 
gaged  in  it  also.  The  people  of  the  north  who  had  from 
the  commencement,  united  trade  and  traffic  with  their 
agricultural  operations  for  a  living,  engaged  heartily  in 
this  work  of  importing  and  exporting  slaves  as  we  have 
already  seen,  in  the  case  of  king  Phillip's  son,  wife,  and 
others.  This  was  continued  by  foreign  and  domestic 
traders,  until  New  York,  Delaware,  Pennsylvania,  Mary 
land,  Virginia,  the  Carolinas,  and  ultimately  Georgia 
were  amply  supplied  with  them  as  well  as  many  parts  of 
New  England.  It  is  true,  indeed,  the  fact  surprises  us 
that  religionists  of  every  denomination  participated  there 
in,  not  excepting  the  Quakers,  so  that  "the  humane  Penn," 
as  he  has  been  justly,  we  believe,  called,  "himself  died  a 
slave-holder.* 

It  is  said  that  the  receiver  is  as  bad  as  the  thief,  and 
we  know  that  it  is  customary  to  denounce  the  slave-hold 
ing  states,  as  receptacles  of  all  vice  and  injustice, — and 
coldly  to  represent  their  citizens  as  "men  stealers,  kidnap 
pers,"  &c.  But  let  it  be  remembered  that  these  states 
owned  but  a  few  if  any  vessels  of  any  sort  or  kind,  never 
one  slaver,  and  consequently  had  not  the  means,  if  they 
had  the  disposition  of  importing  slaves  to  this  continent. 
Our  pious  forefathers,  Englishmen, — our  holy  brethren, 
Catholics  and  Protestants, — Yes  !  Protestants  of  every 
name,  of  the  national  Church,  Puritans, — Quakers,  did 
the  kidnapping  in  Africa,  or  had  it  done,  brought  them 
here,  and  notwithstanding  the  repeated  protests  of  some 
of  those,  that  are  now  the  slave-holding  states,  especially 
Virginia,  the  Carolinas  and  Georgia,  which  we  will  no 
tice  hereafter,  against  it,  slaves,  thousands  upon  thou- 

*  See  Bancroft,  vol.  2,  page  403,  also  see  Charter  of  Free  Society  of  Traders, 
Matlack,  in  Mass.  His.  col.  xviii,  185,  and  Penn  in  Watson,  480 — also  others  as 
referred  to  by  Bancroft  and  Graham. 


23 

sands,  were  literally  forced  on  them,  by  a  law  which 
made  it  obligatory  for  every  man,  to  cultivate  land  and 
to  buy  at  least  four  slaves  for  every  hundred  acres. 

The  Catholics  notwithstanding  the  solemn  declaration 
of  their  infallible  Pontiff,  "that  slavery  is  unlawful,"  were 
found  importing  them,  almost  by  tens  of  thousands  into 
Maryland.  QUEEN  ELIZABETH,  the  head  of  the 
English  Church,  engaged  with  her  Church,  a  national  one, 
most  sincerely  and  heartily  in  it;  and  whilst  a  Quaker 
would  not  worship  in  his  family,  when  the  spirit  moved 
him  to  family  worship,  or  in  the  church,  with  a  negro, 
he  would  buy,  sell,  enslave,  and  as  the  history  of  well 
attested  facts  proves,  actually  oppress  the  black  man 
with  a  good  conscience.  It  is  believed  by  those  who  have 
considered  and  investigated  this  subject  most  clearly, 
that  if  the  entire  State  of  Rhode  Island  were  sold  at  one 
hundred  dollars  per  acre,  the  sum  acquired  by  such  sale, 
would  not  discharge  the  amount  of  interest  alone,  apart 
from  the  principle  acquired,  by  slaves  imported  and  sold 
by  its  inhabitants. 

*  With  how  little  grace  does  a  reproof  come  from  those, 
who  are  now  rolling  in  wealth,  the  price  of  slavery,  to 
slave-holders  who  have  purchased  with  money,  the  fruits 
of  their  own  labors,  slaves,  and  who  are  constantly  seek 
ing  to  better  the  condition  of  those  slaves,  and  aid  them 
on  their  way  to  eternal  life.  The  proceeds  of  personal 
toils  we  all  know,  are  often  expended  in  slave-holding 
states,  in  slaves,  who  might  be  disposed  of,  and  removed 
elsewhere.  Their  owners  treat  them  humanely,  worship 
God  with  them  at  the  same  altar,  and  train  and  instruct 
them  for  the  same  heaven.  We  are  capable  of  proving, 
that  some  of  the  largest  estates  in  the  north  are  the 
price  of  slavery.  Aye,  more,  it  is  said,  perhaps  we  could 
prove  it  also,  with  a  little  trouble,  that  some  of  the 
largest,  are  the  product  of  the  slave  trade :  and  even 
now,  but  for  the  legal  obstacles,  would  not  the  same 
men,  who  live  by  the  slaughter  of  seal  and  the  boiling  of 
blubber,  and  the  disposition  of  notions,  often  a  deception 
and  cheat,  live  and  support  themselves,  as  heretofore  did 
their  fathers,  by  kidnapping  Indians  and  Africans,  and 
selling  them,  wherever  a  market  might  be  found.  Do 


24 

not  many  now  do  it,  though  the  same  is  proclaimed 
piracy  in  the  Jaw  of  nations,  as  agreed  on  by  the  great 
powers,  and  consequently  done  at  the  hazard  of  life. 

The  selfish  exaltation  of  some  is  such,  that  whilst  it 
puritanically  gives  a  reproof  to  their  fellows,  it  does,  as 
we  know,  often,  when  an  opportunity  occurs,  turn  into  a 
prison  for  others,  the  spot  that  has  proved  a  seat  of  liberty 
and  happiness  to  themselves;  and  it  has  been  said  that 
many  who  never  owned  a  slave,  such  as  the  masters  of 
factories  and  farms,  are  among  the  hardest  and  most  inhu 
man  masters  in  all  God's  earth.  We  will  not  tell  what 
we  have  seen  and  known  of  such,  after  that  they  have  re 
moved  to  the  south  side  of  old  Potomac.  Let  him  that 
has  never  examined  into  this  matter,  we  say,  deny  our 
statements,  and  look  on  all  this  as  dust  to  blind  the  eyes; 
for  ourselves  we  are  sincere,  and  do  most  sincerely  believe, 
that  it  is  in  our  power  on  this  point  to  carry  the  war  into 
Africa,  and  prove  that  a  denomination,  now  the  most  for 
ward  to  decry,  was  among  the  first  to  introduce  and  en 
courage  slavery  in  the  British  colonies  ;  and  this  it  con 
tinued  to  do  so  long  as  it  was  to  its  own  interest  to  do  so. 
It  is  true  its  members  now  denounce  it  as  iniquitous  under 
all  circumstances )  forgetful  that  they  as  a  denomination  were 
formerly  the  very  pillars  and  supporters  of  this  fabric. 
Really,  the  unfair  dealing  and  duplicity  which  present 
themselves  to  him  that  examines,  and  the  effort  to  appear 
one  thing  and  perform  another,  are  but  a  practical  comment 
on  the  deep  depravity  of  poor  human  nature.  In  1697, 
whilst  the  QUAKERS  of  Pennsylvania  like  those  of  other 
regions,  were  denouncing  war,  all  war, — as  iniquitous, 
is  it  not  astounding  that  they  were  voting  subsidies  to  the 
governor  of  New  York,  under  the  vain  show  of  giving  re 
lief  to  the  border  Indians,  when  in  fact  it  was  simply  to 
aid  in  carrying  on  a  war  against  them,  that  they  might  be 
enslaved  or  destroyed.  Subsequently,  when  called  on  for 
more,  they  solemnly  answered  that  according  to  the  irreli 
gious  persuasions  and  articles  they  would  be  ready  to 
obey  the  king's  commands :  that  is,  they  would  vo  te 
"subsidies  to  carry  on  a  war  with,  and  enslave  the 
Indiaae,"  under  the  name  of  relief  for  the  Indians.  And 


25 

although  a  salvo  was  inserted  for  the  sake  of  Quaker 
consistency  in  laws  of  this  kind,  yet  did  they  vote  sums 
of  money  for  New  York  batteries,  and  as  the  subjects 
of  a  military  government,  their  full  contingent  to  strength 
en  the  sinews  of  war,  a  war  in  which  extermination 
or  slavery  was  the  result  to  the  conquered  Indians. — 
Thus  whilst  voting  sums  of  money  which  they  knew  would 
impel  the  rage  of  war,  and  reward  the  ferocity  of  savages, 
whom  they  had  professed  an  anxious  desire  to  convert; 
they  always  attempted,  by  the  substitution  of  some  other 
alleged  purpose,  to  shift  the  sin  from  themselves  to  their 
military  superiors,  or  at  least  to  draw  a  decent  veil  over 
acts  which  they  did  not  wish  to  avow.  Like  the  case 
mentioned  by  Doctor  Franklin,  of  the  Quaker  assembly 
which  could  not  vote  on  a  requisition  for  £2000  to  buy 
gunpowder,  consistently  with  their  principles  of  religion, 
but  would  vote  .£2000  to  buy  grain  for  the  soldiers. 

We  have  often  heard  in  Virginia,  an  old  time  saying 
of  the  tobacco  negroes,  which  has  in  it  a  great  deal  of 
good  sense.  "That  is  whipping  the  Devil  around  the 
stump."  It  does  doubtless  seem  strange  that  these  facts 
should  be  found  here;  we  are  constrained  by  duty  to  notice 
them:  for  whilst  we  regard  and  respect  our  brethren  of every 
name,  and  our  fellow  citizens  of  every  portion  of  this  wide 
ly  extended  country,  it  ought  to  be  known,  it  must  be 
known,  honesty  and  truth  and  righteousness  demand  that 
it  be  known,  as  it  is  plainly  set  forth  in  history,  that  slave 
ry  in  its  origin,  lies  not  as  a  sin,  at  the  doors  of  those 
that  dwell  south  of  the  Potomac.  Many  north  of  that 
ancient  river  delight  in  depicting  the  horrors  of  slavery, 
and  in  decrying  southern  slave  holders,  when  by  their 
deeds,  slavery  has  been  entailed  on  the  southern  country 
as  one  of  its  institutions.  This  can  only  be  removed, 
with  especial  reference  to  the  safety  and  true  interests  of 
both  parties. 

The  statement  we  have  made  concerning  the  course  pur 
sued  by  our  northern  brethren,  is  made  only  to  illustrate 
what  has  been  the  mode  of  action  on  the  part  of  those  who 
have  seemed  most  just,  as  they  are  the  most  forward  in 
denouncing  slavery.  When  Fox  visited  Barbadoes,  and 
3*  * 


26 

found  the  Quaker  planters  in  the  possession  of  slaves,  he 
directed  them  to  train  the  same  in  the  fear  of  God,  as  well, 
said  he,  "those  that  are  bought  with  your  money ,  as  those 
that  are  born  in  your  families."  "I  desired  also,"  said 
that  eccentric  and  good  man,  "that  they  would  cause 
their  overseers  to  deal  mildly  and  gently  with  them,  as  the 
manner  of  some  hath  been  and  is."  How  conscientiously 
the  society  of  Friends,  called  Quakers,  complied  with  this, 
will  be  seen  by  a  reference  to  facts.  Their  purpose,  if  it 
existed j  of  taking  the  advice  of  Fox,  was  most  easily  over 
come  by  such  sophistry  as  that  of  voting  war  subsidies, 
whilst  it  was  to  their  temporal  advantage  to  do  so,  and 
the  temptation  to  self-interest,  the  contagion  of  example, 
and  effects  of  habit,  all  united  to  induce  Penn,  who  has 
been  called,  and  his  praises  celebrated,  the  prince  of 
philanthropists,  and  also  his  Quaker  brethren,  to  import 
slaves  which  were  purchased  by  them,  as  well  as  by  other 
settlers  ;  however  the  kindness  of  Quaker  manners 
may  have  contributed  to  soften  the  evil,  and  veil  the  ini 
quity,  if  they  be  so  vast  as  some  contend  they  are,  and  as  we 
also  admit,  in  their  origin.  Yet  it  is  a  well  known  fact,  that 
but  for  the  German  emigration  to  Pennsylvania  and  New 
York,  both  those  states  would  have  been,  doubtless,  at 
this  day,  large  slaveholding  states,  the  great  hazard  of 
losing  African  slaves  on  account  of  the  coldness  of  the 
climate  when  first  brought  there,  and  the  difficulty  of  Quaker 
principles  to  the  contrary  notwithstanding.  The  fact  is 
that  the  increasing  number  of  slaves,  together  with  the 
diversity  of  characters  among  the  colonists,  rendered  the 
emancipation  of  them  increasingly  improbable ;  and  whilst 
the  annual  meeting  of  the  society  of  Friends  gave  an  ear 
nest  admonition  to  Quakers  not  to  import  slaves,  that  ad 
monition  like  the  voting  of  war  subsidies,  was  but  to  give 
a  testimony  by  profession  against,  but  by  acts  and  deeds 
in  favor  of  slavery.  To  tell  the  truth,  as  it  appears  from 
the  history  of  the  day,  it  hardly  produced  an  increased 
cmcem  for  the  welfare  of  the  negroes.  They  were  sel 
dom  if  ever  admitted  to  divine  service,  in  the  families  or 
meeting  houses  of  their  Quaker  masters,  in  obedience  to 
the  older  or  advice  of  the  good  John  Fox.  And  the  sla- 


27 

very  of  Pennsylvania,  notwithstanding  Quaker  humanity, 
was  not  on  a  footing  with  that  of  any  other  colony.  Wil 
liam  Penn  saw  this,  and  presented  the  form  of  a  law  "to 
better  the  moral  condition  of  the  Negroes  and  Indians," 
but  his  Quaker  assembly  rejected  the  whole,  and  passed 
a  law  afor  the  trial  and  punishment  of  slaves:"  and  whilst 
laws  were  passed  with  great  zeal  against  scolding,  and 
against  one  man's  drinking  to  the  health  of  another,  these 
Pennsylvania  Quaker  slave  importer s,  refused  any  law  for 
the  religious  or  moral  improvement  of  the  condition  of 
slaves.  And  yet  the  descendants  of  these  are  the  lovers 
of  freedom,  and  liberty  shall  die  with  them. 

On  the  Hudson,  and  north  and  east  of  that  river,  the 
African  had  his  habitation  as  a  slave.  The  West  India 
company  sent  on  slaves  to  Manhattan,  now  New  York, 
by  thousands.  Elizabeth,  Queen  of  England,  as  already 
seen,  was  a  partner  in  the  slave  trade,  so  were  the  Stew 
arts,  to  the  days  of  Queen  Anne,  who  was  herself  a  most 
distinguished  patroness  of  this  traffic. 

The  city  of  Amsterdam  oVned  shares  in  a  slave  ship, 
advanced  the  money  for  its  outfit,  and  participated,  in  its 
corporate  capacity^  in  all  the  profits  arising  from  its  voy 
ages.  At  that  time  New  York  had  as  many,  if  not  more 
slaves  than  Virginia,  and  STUYVTSANT  was  instructed 
to  promote  as  far  as  practicable  their  sale.  This  sale  was 
there  always  to  the  highest  bidder,  the  average  price  being 
rather  less  than  one  hundred  and  forty  dollars,  and  when  the 
monopoly  was  not  strictly  enforced,  the  profits  were  some 
times  greatly  in  favor  of  English,  to  the  injury  of  the  Dutch 
and  West  India  importers.  The  Dutch  merchants  who 
planted  New  York  were  always  largely  interested  in  the 
slave  trade.  By  special  covenant  they  furnished  slaves 
for  the  colony  of  New  York,  and  also  to  several  others,  to 
any  number  which  they  might  need;  the  cold,  however, 
mostly  defeated  their  purpose  as  to  New  York.  It  was 
found  when  negroes  were  landed  there,  and  in  New  Eng 
land,  being  imported  directly  from  a  hot,  to  a  climate  so 
cold,  if  they  lived  at  all,  they  were  comparatively  of  little 
service,  and  almost  immediately,  and  ever  after  subject 
to  scrofulous  diseases,  induced  by  low  diet  and  but  little 


28 

clothing,  in  a  cold  climate.  Accordingly,  so  soon  as  it 
was  ascertained  by  the  Dutch  who  had  settled  on  the  Hud 
son,  that  the  climate  of  the  south  was  more  suitable  for 
their  negroes,  they  removed  to  situations  on  the  Ashley 
river  in  South  Carolina,  that  climate  being  of  a  mild  and 
warm  temperature ;  and  these  were  afterwards  followed 
by  very  many  of  their  friends  from  Holland,  and  other 
parts  of  Europe.  On  a  petition  being  presented  to  Penn 
sylvania  to  emancipate  her  slaves,  the  answer  was  that  it 
was  neither  JUST  nor  CONVENIENT.  The  citizens  of  the 
little  state  of  Rhode  Island,  that  dealt  so  largely  in  slaves, 
thought  that  they  ought  not  to  be  baptized,  and  went  so 
far  as  to  question  the  doctors  of  divinity  and  the  law,  as  to 
the  legality  of  it.  In  fact  they  demanded  legal  advice  on 
the  subject,  lest  "the  negroes  should  thereby  become  free 
and  be  entitled  to  hold  property." 

The  commerce  of  Virginia  had  been  monopolized  by 
the  Virginia  Company,  and  it  may  be  added,  every  one 
that  could,  was  engaged  in  the  "White  English  Slave 
Trade"  As  we  have  seen  already,  the  labors  and  servi 
tude  of  those  white  slaves,  must  necessarily  have  led  by 
an  easy  step  to  absolute  bondage.  In  1620,  a  Dutch  man- 
of-war  entered  the  James  river,  and  made  sale  of  twenty 
negroes.  There  is  evidence  almost  indubitable,  that  here 
this  traffic  would  have  ended,  if  the  Virginians  had  been 
left  to  themselves.  Thirty  years  after  this  period  there 
was  in  Virginia  only  one  colored  or  black  man  for  fifty 
whites  ;  and  moreover,  after  seventy  years  of  its  colonial 
existence,  its  number  of  slaves  was  proportionably  much 
less  than  in  several  of  the  free  states,  as  they  are  called. 
At  the  commencement  of  the  war  of  the  independence,  as 
she  had  constantly  previously  done,  the  colony  of  Virginia 
protested  against  their  introduction ;  it  imposed  a  special 
tax  on  every  female  slave.  Virginians  regarded  the  African 
race  with  disgust,  nor  could  they  be  induced  to  traffic 
with  the  Dutch,  on  account  of  their  dealing  in  slaves ; 
but  as  slavery  was  to  be  forced  on  them  by  British  tyranny, 
on  their  introduction  by  positive  law,  they  submitted  to 
procure  them  of  whom  they  could.  Nor  was  she  alone 
in  her  opposition  to  this  traffic.  Other  colonies  of  the 


29 

south,  the  Carolinas  and  Maryland  alarmed  with  her,  at 
the  heavy  debts  they  were  forced  to  incur  for  slaves,  and 
the  obvious  danger  to  their  own  liberty  and  safety,  and 
also  the  diminished  price  of  their  staples,  insisted  on  set 
tling  their  provinces  with  white  men,  and  gave  them  the 
preference.  They  also  passed  laws  to  prevent  and  restrict 
the  importation  of  slaves. 

These  laws  will  be  found  on  an  investigation,  scattered 
copiously  through  the  records  of  the  legislative  bodies  of 
Virginia,  and  those  of  the  Carolinas,  Georgia  and  Mary 
land.  It  is  also  known  that  as  soon  as  Virginia  was 
emancipated  from  British  rule,  at  the  first  Congress  she 
was  among  those,  who  legally  denounced  it.  She  united 
with  her  sister  states  to  do  what  she  had  often  struggled 
alone  to  do.  She  was  with  them  to  resist  the  slave  trade, 
and  declare  that  none  shall  be  imported  into  these  United 
States.  Until  she  had  the  power  to  legislate  for  herself, 
she  could  not  do  that  which  she  often  desired  to  do  before. 
.But  at  its  origin,  in  an  age  when  the  interests  of  trade, 
guided  legislation  wholly,  not  one  statesman  dared  to 
second,  in  England,  the  voice  and  the  demands  of  Vir 
ginia  and  Carolina,  that  such  a  trade  should  no  longer  be 
carried  on,  to  their  great  injury.  They,  called  for  its 
cessation ;  still  as  we  shall  soon  see,  slaves  by  hundreds, 
thousands,  millions,  were  forced  upon  the  British  colonies 
of  the  American  continent,  by  Great  Britain  herself,  who 
as  a  nation,  has  dealt  more  largely  in  slavery  from  first  to 
last,  than  all  the  world  beside. 

It  is  proper  that  we  should  give  now,  as  we  shall  refer 
to  them  often,  sundry  acts  of  the  Colonial  Assembly  of 
Virginia,  as  well  as  those  of  other  assemblies,  in  vari 
ous  parts  of  this  work.  As  Virginia  was  the  first  colony 
settled,  so  also  she  must  necessarily  have  been  the  first  to 
pass  laws  on  any  subject.  The  first  Assembly  of  Vir 
ginia  appears  to  have  been  held  by  Sir  George  Yeardly, 
in  1619.  The  members  of  this  Assembly  were  called 
burgesses,  because  there  were  no  counties  then  laid 
off,  and  the  members  of  that  Assembly  represented  the 
boroughs  of  James  Town,  Henrico,  Bermuda  hundred, 
and  other  places,  numbering  eleven  in  all.  The  first 


30 

record  of  the  laws  of  Virginia  which  were  submitted  to 
the  company  in  England,  was  found  among  the  manu 
script  papers  of  Sir  John  Randolph,  which  manuscript 
was  given  by  the  Hon.  Peyton  Randolph,  his  son,  to 
President  Thomas  Jefferson.  They  could  not  be  of 
any  force  until  confirmed  by  the  English  Company. — 
This  manuscript  is  now  in  the  library  of  Congress  in 
Washington  City,  D.  C.,  and  we  copy  an  endorsement 
which  is  in  the  hand-writing  of  Mr.  Jefferson.  On  it 
is  written,  "The  first  laws  made  by  the  Assembly  of 
Virginia,  Anno,  1623."  And  immediately  underneath, 
in  his  hand-writing,  "This  was  found  among  the  man 
uscript  papers  of  Sir  John  Randolph,  and  by  the  Hon. 
Peyton  Randolph,  Esq'r,  his  son,  was  given  to  Thomas 
Jefferson." 

We  are  thus  particular  in  giving  a  history  of  this  first 
record  of  southern  laws,  in  order  that  our  readers  may 
know  from  whence  we  derive  our  information.  It  is  a 
remarkable  fact,  that  among  the  very  first  recorded  therein 
is  an  act  against  oppression.  By  this  act,  no  English 
man  was  permitted  to  arrest  an  Indian  at  all  for  debt,  and 
so  particular  were  our  fathers  respecting  this,  that  they 
descended  to  particulars  in  their  act,  and  exempted  by 
name,  WEANOAK  from  any  arrest  or  fine.  Determined 
on  opposing  the  oppression  which  the  British  Govern 
ment  seemed  disposed  to  inflict  on  thousands,  and  espe 
cially  Indians  and  negroes,  it  subsequently  passed  various 
acts  repelling  and  resisting  the  same,  and  by  29  Act, 
1642 — 3  of  18th  Charles  I.,  no  person  whatever  for  any 
offence  was  to  be  held  to  servitude,  and  by  19th  act  of 
the  same  year,  all  servants  were  exempted  from  being 
taken  in  execution  for  any  debt  of  their  owners.  Again, 
servants  were  only  to  be  corrected  for  public  offences,  as 
were  minors,  when  their  masters  would  not  pay  the  fines 
annexed  as  a  penalty  for  those  offences.  By  act  6, — 5th 
Charles  I.  Poor  Indians  resident  in  the  colony  were  to 
be  supported  and  preserved  from  want. 

Without  reference  to  the  particular  dates  and  acts  as 
numbered  in  the  records,  we  will  here  refer  to  their  objects, 
in  order  to  illustrate  the  fact  that  humanity  was  the  lead- 


31 

ing  trait  in  the  character  of  the  original  settlers  in  Vir 
ginia  and  the  south.  They  had  suffered  themselves  and 
they  knew  to  feel  the  woes  of  others.  But  we  assure 
the  reader  that  by  the  kindness  of  the  librarian  of  Con 
gress,  we  have  the  documents  now  before  us,  and  could 
give,  if  it  would  not  unnecessarily  encumber  our  pages, 
the  specific  acts  in  the  language  of  our  fathers. 

By  one  of  these,  Indian  children  might  be  bound  to 
service  only  by  their  own  parents,  to  a  master  of  their 
own  choosing,  and  before  two  justices  of  the  peace,  with 
the  express  understanding  that  their  masters  were  to  edu 
cate  them.  By  another  act,  one  Indian  boy  was  allowed 
to  be  carried  to  England,  with  the  consent  of  his  parents, 
not  otherwise,  and  all  servants  were  to  be  carried  regu 
larly  to  church. 

By  other  acts  to  prevent  oppression,  no  debts  were  to 
be  recovered  of  Indians  by  legal  constraint.  The  steal 
ing  and  selling  an  Indian  was  punished  by  a  very  severe 
penalty.  No  person  was  allowed  to  buy  them  even  from 
the  English.  No  debts  contracted  for  such  a  purchase 
were  recoverable — and  on  proof  of  it — the  slave  was  to 
be  returned  in  ten  days  and  a  large  reward  to  be  paid  in 
tobacco  to  the  informer.  Further,  to  aid  in  civilizing 
the  Indians,  they  were  to  be  paid  one  cow  for  every  wolf 
that  they  killed.  Their  children  apprenticed  were  not  to 
be  transferred  to  any  other  master  than  the  one  selected  by 
their  parents,  and  to  be  free  and  at  their  own  disposal  at 
twenty-five.  Their  lands,  were  entailed  on  them  unless  the 
Assembly  should  otherwise  direct.  Subsequently  all  ser 
vants  were  put  on  a  footing  with  English  servants,  and 
were  to  be  carried  regularly  to  church  to  be  catechised,  and 
laws  were  passed  especially  to  mitigate  the  oppressions 
of  the  poor  Irish  and  Indian  servants,  and  no  master 
was  permitted  under  a  very  heavy  penalty  to  treat  them  ill. 

By  another  act  of  the  Assembly,  whenever  an  English 
man  encroached  on  the  Indian  lands,  his  house  was  to 
be  demolished,  all  the  inhabitants  were  ordered  to  assist 
the  Indians  in  erecting  their  fences,  and  they  were  secur 
ed  in  their  property.  Although  taken  in  war  and  brought 
in  by  Englishmen  for  sale,  they  should  not  be  disposed  of 
without  a  license  from  the  Governor,  nor  to  serve  longer 


32 

than  convict  servants  from  England.  By  the  same  act, 
Wahanganoche,  king  of  the  Potomacs,  was  compensated 
for  injuries  done  him  by  fines  and  imprisonment.  Moore 
Fauntlaroy  was  declared  incapable  of  holding  any  office, 
civil  or  military,  for  oppression  and  extortion  on  the  Rap- 
pahannock  Indians.  Remuneration  was  ordered  to  be 
made  to  them,  and  he  held  to  give  security  for  keeping 
the  peace  toward  all,  especially  the  Indians.  Indians 
taken  by  Indians  were  not  to  be  sold  in  slavery,  and  all 
masters  were  to  provide  for  their  servants  and  slaves, 
competent  good  clothing  and  lodging,  their  punishment 
was  not  to  be  but  in  proportion  to  the  offence,  and  they 
were  not  to  be  sold  for  taxes.  Any  negro  woman  might 
be  set  free,  and  negro  Will,  the  property  of  Robert 
Ruffin,  of  Surry  county,  was  by  name  emancipated  for 
discovering  a  plot  for  conspiracy. 

These  acts  are  referred  to  here  to  show  the  bent  of  the 
public  mind  in  the  south,  and  to  prepare  the  way  for  a 
reference  to  another  point  already  presented  to  the  reader, 
viz.  that  the  colonies  did  protest  against  and  resist  as 
far  as  they  possibly  could,  the  introduction  of  permanent 
slavery,  which  was  pressed  and  entailed  on  them  by  Brit 
ish  cupidity  and  tyranny.  Shortly  after  negroes  were 
first  introduced  among  them,  "  On  July  13,  1830,  Hugh 
Davis  was  ordered  to  be  soundly  whipped  for  defiling  his 
body,  by  lying  with  a  negress,  and  this  was  ordered  to  be 
done  before  an  assembly  of  negroes."  Here  we  have 
the  repulsion,  the  natural  repulsion  of  the  whites  to  the 
other,  the  colored  race.  Against  their  introduction  they 
solemnly  protested,  and  so  far  did  they  carry  this  opposi 
tion  that  they  punished  by  banishment  as  well  as  a  fine 
of  ,£15,  under  Act  16,  of  3d  William  and  Mary,  any  white 
man  or  woman  for  marrying  a  colored  person  and  a  woman 
for  having  a  child  by  a  colored  man,  was  sold  as  a  slave 
for  five  years. 

When  the  British  Government  forced  the  negroes  on 
them,  they  also  resisted  by  passing  a  law  that  no  negroes 
should  be  free  among  them,  unless  they  should  leave  the 
country  in  six  months. 

This  it  appears  so  excited  the  government  in  England, 


33 

that  they  passed  an  order  of  council  that  no  person 
should  own  in  the  colonies  land  at  all,  unless  he  would 
purchase  at  least  four  negro  slaves  for  every  hundred 
acres  of  land  owned  by  any  colonist.  And  although 
protest  after  protest,  and  act  after  act,  resisting  this,  were 
passed,  the  governors  of  these  colonies  were  ordered 
directly  to  veto  the  same.  To  quote  these  resolutions 
and  acts  is  unnecessary.  We  must,  however,  adduce 
one  more  to  show  the  unconquerable  hostility  that  there 
was  in  the  southern  colonists  to  the  British  slave  trade, 
both  foreign  (i.e.)  African,  and  domestic  (i.  e.)  in  Eng 
lish,  Irish  and  Scotch  convicts.  By  an  act  of  April  20, 1670, 
it  appears  that,  "on  the  complaints  of  several  of  the 
council  and  other  gent.,  inhabitants  of  the  counties  of 
York,  Gloucester  and  Middlesex,  representing  their  appre 
hensions  and  fears  lest  the  honor  of  his  majesty  and  the 
peace  of  the  colony  be  too  much  hazarded  and  endan 
gered  by  the  great  number  of  feluns  and  desperate  vil 
lains  sent  hither  from  the  several  prisons  in  England, 
being  read  in  council,  on  consideration,  it  was  ordered 
that  such  'jail-birds?  'wicked  villians,'  shall  not  be  per 
mitted  to  land."  The  reasons  assigned  by  them  for  this 
were,  that  in  1663  an  insurrection  had  occurred,  being 
occasioned  by  Bacon  anu  such,  that  their  reputation  as 
a  colony  and  country  was  involved  in  this;  that  liberty, 
purity  and  religion  were  all  endangered  by  such  an 
unwarrantable  and  unjust  act ;  and  that  they  would  not 
permit  such  immoral  persons — "jail-birds,"  "wicked  vil 
lains" — to  land  !  and  that  this  act  should  continue  in 
force  until  revoked  by  his  majesty.  "On  the  25th  of 
November,  1671,  Captain  Bristow  and  Captain  Walker 
entered  into  security  in  100,000,000  pounds  of  tobacco 
and  casks,  that  Mr.  Nevett  shall  send  off  these  'Newgate 
birds'  within  two  months,  according  to  order."  More 
over,  as  two  young  lasses  had  unfortunately  become 
pregnant  on  the  passage  from  England  to  America,  they 
were  ordered  back  from  whence  they  came,  and  a  double 
penalty  was  imposed  on  adultery  or  fornication  with  a 
colored  woman.  This  resistance  to  slavery  of  all  kinds 
and  degrees  was  kept  up,  in  connection  with  the  positive 
acts  of  the  colonial  assemblies,  that  negroes  should  not 
4 


34 

be  free  here  until  1776,  when  the  determined  opposition 
to  the  policy  of  Great  Britain  on  this  subject  was  embo 
died  in  that  renowned  paper,  the  Declaration  of  the  Inde 
pendence  of  the  United  States  of  America,  in  the  follow 
ing  quotations:  "He  (the  king  of  Great  Britain)  has  en 
deavored  to  prevent  the  population  of  these  states," 
"obstructing  the  laws  of  naturalization,"  "raising  the  con 
ditions  of  new  appropriations  of  lands,"  "abolishing  the 
free  system  of  English  laws,"  exciting  domestic  insurrec 
tions  among  us,"  to  complete  the  work  of  death  Jbegun  un 
der  circumstances  of  cruelty  and  perfidy  scarcely  parallel 
ed  in  the  most  barbarous  ages."  This  declaration  was 
signed  by  all  the  representatives  of  the  original  thirteen 
states,  and  thus  the  acts  of  Virginia  and  the  south,  in 
resisting  the  foul  deeds  of  Great  Britain  in  first  intro 
ducing  and  then  tampering  with  the  slaves,  was  vouched 
for  by  those  great  and  patriotic  men,  and  they  have  vir 
tually  proclaimed  to  all  the  earth  that  British  cupidity 
and  tyranny  forced  on  the  south  African  slavery,  with 
the  knowledge  of  the  fact  that  the  colonists  had  pro 
claimed  by  their  laws,  to  them  and  the  world,  that  those 
Africans  should  not  be  turned  loose,  free,  as  it  is  called, 
among  them.  We  humbly  conceive  that  all  those  con 
clusions  at  which  we  may  arrive  upon  the  justice  of  their 
removal  back  to  Africa,  if  freed  at  all,  and  the  injustice 
to  the  states  of  a  direct,  immediate  and  universal  eman 
cipation  of  all  slaves  here  in  our  midst,  will  be  seen  most 
certainly  to  grow  out  of  these  premises.  That  the  south, 
in  continuing  their  relation,  not  only  acts  consistently 
with  herself,  but  consistently  with  every  principle  of 
sound  policy,  and  for  the  true  interest  of  both  the  white 
and  colored  races,  as  well  as  for  the  ultimate  benefit  of 
both  America  and  Africa.  Here  they  never  can  be  free 
and  enjoy  the  rights  and  privileges  of  American  freemen. 
In  Africa  they  may  be  free,  and  there  enlighten,  civilize 
and  bless  the  land  of  their  fathers.  We  have  thought 
proper  here,  as  it  is  a  point  to  which  we  must  often 
allude  in  our  subsequent  remarks,  to  give  our  authorities 
for  southern  colonial  resistance  to  the  introduction  of 
slavery  among  them.  We  shall  hereafter  allude  to  other 
facts.  We  proceed  now  to  notice  more  particularly  the 
history  of  this  trade. 


35 

Under  the  treaty  of  Utrecht,  already  alluded  to,  Eng 
land  claimed  of  the  European  powers  the  right  of  the 
slave  trade  by  persons  whom  she  should  appoint,  and 
agreed  under  the  provisions  of  that  treaty  to  bring 
into  the  West  Indies  belonging  to  his  Catholic  Majesty 
alone,  in  the  space  of  thirty  years,  one  hundred  and  forty- 
four  thousand  negroes,  at  the  rate  of  four  thousand  eight 
hundred  in  each  one  of  these  thirty  years,  and  she  pro 
mised  to  pay  a  tribute  or  impost  on  each  head  of  thirty- 
three  and  one-third  dollars.  Other  persons  or  parties 
from  England,  not  of  the  African  or  South  Sea  Company, 
might  introduce  as  many  more  at  a  less  rate,  only  no 
scandal  was  to  be  offered  to  the  Catholic  religion.  Thus 
it  appears  that  the  most  exact  care  was  taken  to  secure 
a  monopoly  of  the  slave  trade  to  GrgatBritain.  .§he  was 
to  have  it  entire  for  Spanish  and  British  America,  and 
the  liberty  of  trading  in  slaves  even  on  the  shores  of  the 
Pacific  Ocean,  as  well  as  on  those  of  the  Atlantic  ;  and 
this  was  to  be  carried  on  by  persons  exclusively  appointed 
by  England.  It  is  marvellous  how  this  tyrant  mistress 
of  the  seas  did  extort  the  right  to  fill  the  new  world  with 
slaves.  ^Of  this  monopoly  stock  queen  Anne  took  one- 
fourth,  Philip  V.  of  Spain  one-fourth,  and  the  other  two- 
fourths  were  left  to  the  subjects  of  that  queen.  So  that 
the  sovereigns  of  England  and  Spain  became  the  greatest 
slave  merchants  in  the  world,  and  lady  Masham,  on  the 
advice  of  Harley,  assigned  her  portion  of  this  stock,  the 
third  fourth-part,  to  the  South  Sea  Company.  Thus,  by 
the  sale  of  a  few  trinkets  for  slaves,  Great  Britain  raised 
a  capital  which  built  up  and  confirmed  a  British  empire 
in  Hindostan.  By  this  treaty,  the  whole  mercantile  sys 
tem,  of  which  the  colonial  was  a  material  branch,  "cul 
minated  into  the  slave  trade,  and  that  system  of  policy 
which  adopted,  as  the  greatest  source  of  income  or  pro 
duce  slave  labor."  Nor  did  England  only  monopolize 
the  slave  trade ;  she  sought  to  engross  through  it  every 
sugar  plantation  in  the  world.  She  excluded  colonial 
ships  from  the  exporting  trade  of  sugar  and  the  traffic  in 
it,  in  order  that  she  might  monopolize  the  same ;  and  thus 
was  manifested  to  all  the  world  her  cardinal  hope  of  com 
mercial  supremacy  throughout  the  world. 


36 

The  sugar  plantations  were  considered  of  the  greatest 
consequence  to  the  trade  of  England,  and  whilst  the  duty 
on  rum  was  nine  pence,  it  was  five  shillings  on  every 
hundred  weight  of  sugar,  and  six  pence  a  gallon  on  mo 
lasses,  imported  into  British  colonies.  This  last  was 
equal  to  a  prohibition  in  the  colonies  of  sugar  and  mo 
lasses.  The  act  itself  was  an  evidence  of  that  monopoly 
which  brought  an  income  to  the  crown  of  an  immense 
amount,  and  the  grievance  was  resisted  by  the  colonists 
as  a  tax  designed  to  promote  the  interests  of  England 
solely,  who  by  an  after  transfer  of  right  to  the  South  Sea 
Company,  a  company  created  to  delude,  and  whose  foun 
dation  was  most  evidently  in  fraud,  she,  by  this  sought  to 
fulfil  the  contract  for  negroes,  coveting  as  she  did,  that 
illicit  commerce  in  South  America.  Ambition,  avarice, 
distress,  disappointment,  and  a  complication  of  vices, 
filled  all  places  and  hearts  in  the  British  nation.  Ja 
maica  was  the  centre  of  her  smuggling  operations,  and 
her  slave  ships,  and  her  slave  traders  were  the  ready  in 
struments  of  her  contraband  traffic  and  cupidity.  En 
couraged  by  English  legislation  and  royal  favour,  the 
African  Company  being  also  mainly  forced  and  led  on, 
by  the  British  Ministry,  successively,  for  one  hundred 
years,  aided  by  independant  traders  in  slaves,  from 
the  mother  country,  poured  their  thousands  of  slaves  into 
the  colonies. 

The  New  England  and  other  colonies,  notwithstanding 
the  almost  incessant  resistance  of  the  colonies  of  Virginia, 
Carolina,  and  afterwards  Georgia,  constantly  crowded 
the  ports  of  those  colonies,  indeed  those  of  the  entire  new 
world,  under  British  domination,  as  did  the  South  Sea 
Company  those  under  Spanish  rule,  with  slaves,  being 
shielded  and  supported  in  this  right  by  the  assieuto  as  it 
has  been  called,  or  that  part  of  the  treaty  of  Utrecht, 
which  gave  to  the  British  nation  the  right  of  trade  in 
slaves  for  all  the  western  hemisphere.  *  These  slaves 
were  sought  for,  over  thirty  degrees  on  the  African 
Coasts,  from  Cape  Blanco  to  Loango  St.  Pauls,  and 
from  the  Great  Desert  of  Sahara  to  Angola ;  it  may  be 
to  the  land  of  the  Caffres,  differing  often  in  color,  lan 
guage,  and  physical  appearance,  and,  it  must  be  admitted, 


37 

often,  not  only  mercifully  rescued  from  a  savage  state, 
(perhaps  death)  but  from  a  harder,  a  worse  bondage, 
being  slaves  at  home,  to  become  captives  for  toil  in  civil 
ized  life.  The  purchases,  when  purchases  were  made  at 
all  in  Africa,  were  chiefly  with  valueless  trinkets,  baubles 
and  brandy.  The  slaves  procured  on  these  invaluable 
conditions,  were  convicts,  who  were  punished  with 
slavery,  for  crimes,  or  mulct  in  a  fine  which  was  to  be 
discharged  by  their  sale;  or  of  debtors  sold  into  foreign 
bondage,  of  children  sold  by  their  parents,  and  of  villagers 
kidnapped  and  captives  taken  in  war.  But  the  chief 
source  or  fountain  from  whence  slaves  were  procured, 
was  from  the  vast  number  of  those  who  were  born  in 
slavery. 

The  despotisms,  the  customs  and  the  superstitions  of 
Africa,  have  all,  all  multiplied  bondage  in  that  dark  con 
tinent.  .  In  the  upper  country  or  the  Senegal  and  the 
Gambia,  three-fourths  of  the  inhabitants  are  slaves,  whose 
masters  are  the  absolute  owners  of  their  children  and  all 
that  they  have.  There,  the  demand  for  slaves,  whether 
by  the  Moors,  or  the  slave  ships,  was  absolutely  supplied 
by  the  natural  increase.  There  humanity,  it  must  be  con 
fessed,  not  respecting  herself,  either  in  her  individual,  her 
family,  or  her  national  capacity,  is  debased  to  the  lowest 
point.  If  the  question  be  asked,  why,  notwithstanding 
the  vast  number  of  removals,  the  number  of  slaves  to  this 
day,  is  not  diminished  in  Africa  ?  For  they  could  from 
those,  now  in  absolute  bondage,  supply  the  world  with 
laborers,  the  answer  is  just  at  hand.  "There,  nature 
unconscious  of  its  powers,  in  its  depreciated  state,  and  the 
healthfulness  of  the  climate,  which  is  warm  and  genial, 
all  conspire  to  that  productiveness  in  the  African  race,  in 
their  fatherland,  which  supplies  every  vacancy,  and 
keeps  up  the  slave  as  well  as  free  population,  though  it  be 
subject  at  various  periods  to  immense  drafts."  Cruel 
England  only  valued  Africa,  for  her  returns  of  slaves. 
Her  baubles  sold  at  one  thousand  per  cent,  to  them, 
would  not  pay  the  price  of  exportation,  much  less  yield 
otherwise  a  profit.  It  was  the  return  cargo,  a  cargo  of 
slaves,  that  was  to  bring  the  pay,  which  by  oppressive 
enactments  to  sustain  that  monopoly,  extorted  a  price 
4* 


38 

the  most  enormous  for  them,  from,  as  we  have  suggested, 
every  landed  colonist.  They  most  generally  brought 
from  Africa  the  youth  of  that  land,  the  aged  and  helpless 
being  often  left  to  be  slaughtered  by  their  African  mas 
ters.  African  slaves  were  accustomed  to  a  change  of 
masters.  Slavery  therefore,  to  them,  was,  certainly  no 
new  thing,  with  it  they  were  familiar,  but  a  voyage 
across  the  vast  Atlantic,  whither  they  knew  not,  was 
indeed  appalling. 

The  avarice  of  the  British  slave  traders  was  the  only 
guarantee  for  their  lives.  The  slaves  gathered  sorne- 
limes  a  thousand  miles  apart,  knew  nothing  of  each  other, 
any  more  than  they  knew  of  their  British  masters 

England  with  all  her  boast  of  liberty  was  inexorable 
in  maintaining  this  slave  policy  and  system,  a  system 
wrhich  gained  new  and  stronger  supporters  by  its  excess, 
until  at  least  nine  millions  of  slaves  were  imported  to 
various  parts  of  (he  earth,  from  Airica,  chiefly  by  En 
glishmen,  during  the  assiento,  that  most  conspicuous  fea 
ture  of  the  Utrecht  treaty,  into  the  English,  Spanish,  and 
French  West  Indies,  and  the  colonies  of  the  American 
continent,  including  those  transported  into  South  America, 
and  perhaps  millions  thrown  overboard,  who  found  at 
once  an  end  of  suffering,  and  a  grave  in  the  Atlantic 
Ocean.  The  clear  profit  of  this  traffic  amounted  to  at 
least  four  hundred  millions  of  dollars,  and  all  this  vast 
amount  may  be  estimated  only  as  the  portion  of  Great 
Britain  chiefly,  whilst  she  enjoyed  the  slave  trade  mono 
poly,  and  the  history  of  slavery  will  show  that  she  only 
imported,  on  the  whole,  about  one-half  taken  from  Africa. 
^Heavens  !  how  gigantic  in  crime,  must  that  nation  be, 
that,  now  makes  such  a  vain  boast  and  show  of  humanity 
and  liberty  ;  that  talks  of  a  constitution,  ih&\  never  existed, 
and  a  MAGNA  (-HARTA,  of  as  little  value  in  the  hands  of 
t \ranny,  as  a  piece  of  blank  paper,  ("rime  was  commit 
ted  under  the  special  favour  of  royalty,  the  ministry  and 
parliament,  and  sanctioned  by  the  entire  people,  so  long 
as  it  would  yield  a  profit.  No  general  indignation  ever 
rebuked  that  enormity,  but  to  the  reverse,  interest,  inter 
est,  as  it  is  now,  ever  has  been  the  ruling  principle  with 
England. 


39 

Queen  Anne  ushered  in  the  eighteenth  century,  with 
royal  instructions  to  the  colonies,  to  give  due  encourage 
ment  to  the  merchants  and  African  Company  of  England, 
ibr  the  importation  of  slaves,  which  we  see  was  promptly 
resisted  by  Virginia.  Resolutions  of  the  House  of  Com 
mons,  in  the  days  of  William  and  Mary,  proposed  greater 
facilities  for  suppling  the  colonies  with  negroes,  and  de 
clarative  of  the  vast  importance  of  that  trade.  In  1708 
it  was  declared  to  be  so  important  that  the  trade  should 
be  free.  In  1711  an  increase  of  it  was  again  recommend 
ed,  and  in  171S4  queen  Anne  boasted  of  finding  for  Eng 
lishmen,  another  Spanish  port  for  selling  slaves.  In  1729 
George  II.  recommended  a  provision  for  forts  to  protect 
those  who  were  engaged  in  the  slave  trade,  on  the  coast 
of  Africa;  and  in  the  same  year,  so  important  in  English 
estimation  was  this  traffic  in  slaves,  that  all  ports  on  the 
African  coasts  were  declared  open  to  English  competition, 
for  the  "slave  trade,"  as  "the  slave  trade,"  to  use  the 
language  of  that  declaration,  "is  very  advantageous  to 
Great  Britain."  ,  In  1750  the  British  Senate  was  engaged  X. 
for  two  weeks  in  solemn  conclave  and  debate,  to  make 
that  trade  more  effectual  and  profitable  to  monopolizing 
England,  and  that,  notwithstanding  forty-six  thousand 
slaves  had  been  sold  that  year,  in  British  colonies  on  the 
continent  alone  Who  will,  who  can  believe  it?  The 
result  of  those  deliberations  was,  that  under  the  treaty  of 
Utrecht,  none  had  a  right  to  participate  in  that  trade  but 
Englishmen.  Look  at  the  decision  of  their  judges.  Holt 
and  Pollinfex,  and  eight  other  judges,  had  already  decided 
that  "negroes  are  merchandize" — property — as  much  so  as 
any  commodity,  and  that  therefore,  aliens,  under  the  act 
of  navigation,  were  to  be  excluded  from  its  benefits. 
Public  opinion  favored  and  sustained  this  decision.  Nei 
ther  philosophy  nor  religion  furnished  protection  to  the 
African  on  his  native  shores,  against  the  oppressive  and 
cruel  efforts  of  this  Mistress  of  the  Ocean,  to  enlarge  her 
borders  and  increase  her  wealth,  by  means  of  this  un 
righteous  and  abominable  monopoly.  Her  laws  and  her 
deeds  were  equally  regardless  of  human  freedom.  In 
evidence  of  the  truth  of  this  statement,  the  colonial  ne 
gro  who  visited  England,  returned  to  his  home  in  America 


40 

a  slave  still.  He  was  not  free  on  that  "free  isle."  /The 
manufacturers  also  clamored  for  the  protection  of  a  trade 
which  opened  to  them  the  African  market.  They  evi 
dently  dictated  to  England  herself,  if  there  had  been  none 
other  to  press  on  it  the  subject,  of  an  entire  and  safe  pro 
tection  for,  and  encouragement  to  the  slave  trade.  Just 
at  this  moment,  1841,  for  national  aggrandizement  and 
the  encouragement  of  a  privileged  few,  possessed  of  a 
monopoly,  China  by  England  is  to  be  forced,  at  the  can 
non's  mouth,  to  submit  to  a  trade  in  opium — second 
hardly  to  any  traffic,  in  iniquity  and  wretchedness,  that 
ever  existed.  Public  opinion  in  England,  and  the  policy 
of  that  monarchy,  ever  unite  to  sustain  any  traffic  which 
tends  to  this  aggrandizement ;  and  from  all  this  it  does 
appear  that  British  policy  knows  no  relentings. 

In  the  importation  of  Africans  across  the  vast  Atlantic, 
their  cruelty  was  most  manifest,  and  then  by  force,  im 
posing  them  on  the  colonists,  in  order  evidently,  accord 
ing  to  their  own  showing,  "to  check  that  spirit  of  freedom" 
which  was  ever  manifesting  itself,  especially  among  Vir- 

v  ginia  freemen.  .  Hence  it  was  that  in  1745,  was  published 
openly  and  boldly,  by  British  merchants,  that  manifesto 
in  which  is  announced,  what  they  declare  to  be  a  fact, 
"that  the  African  slave  trade  is  the  great  pillar  and  sup- 

%  port  of  the  British  plantation  trade  in  America."  ,  It  is 
said  therein,  that  if  it  "were  possible  for  white  men  to 
answer  the  end  of  negroes  planting  our  colonies,  it  would 
interfere  with  the  manufactures  of  these  kingdoms ;  and 
in  such  case,  they  might  have  just  reasons  to  dread  the 
prosperity  of  the  colonies;  but  whilst  we  can  supply  them 
abundantly  with  negroes,  we  need  be  under  no  such  ap 
prehensions."  "Negro  laborers,"  say  they,  ''will  keep 
our  British  colonies  in  due  subserviency  to  the  interest  of 
their  mother  country,  for  while  our  plantations  depend 
only  on  planting  by  negroes,  our  colonies  can  never  prove 
injurious  to  British  manufacturers  and  never  become  in 
dependent  of  their  kingdom." 

Who  can  read  these  cold  blooded  reasons  for  such  a 
policy,  without  looking  to  the  deeds  of  this  same  nation, 
for  the  support  and  protection  of  that  policy — by  the  In 
dian  butcheries  on  our  frontier  country,  of  men,  women, 


41 

and  children,  with  the  battle  axe,  the  tomakawk,  and 
bloody  scalping  knife  ? 

For  these  reasons  slavery  was  almost  coeval  with  the 
first  settlements  of  South  Carolina,  on  the  Ashley  river. 
As  its  warm  climate  was  more  congenial  to  the  African 
race  than  that  of  the  north,  it  of  course  became  a  great 
object  with  those  who  owned  and  desired  their  services, 
as  well  as  those  not  having  them,  who  were  disposed  to 
settle  there,  to  procure  them,  and  together  take  up  their 
abode  in  a  land  where  winters  are  comparatively  un 
known.  And  so  far  from  northern  and  eastern  colonists 
not  participating,  by  design,  in  this  work  of  slavery,  al 
most  all  the  history  of  the  times  shows,  that  whilst  they 
at  home  did  actually,  directly  or  indirectly,  engage  in  the 
trade,  by  the  use  of  all  disposable  capital,  as  far  as  per 
mitted  by  the  mother  country,  those  in  the  personal  pos 
session  of  slaves  were  so  much  attached  to  s]avery,  that 
as  we  have  seen,  they  broke  up  their  farms  on  the  Hud 
son  and  other  places,  and  removed  to  Ashley  river  in 
South  Carolina,  where  they  might  stand  the  better  chance 
of  preserving  their  slave  property  from  sickness  and  death. 
These  were  followed  in  time  by  their  friends  from  Europe, 
because  of  the  prospect  of  commencing  a  plantation  with 
slaves  at  once,  under  favorable  circumstances  and  the 
most  promising  prospects  of  having  healthy  laborers.  It 
has  been  said  that  those  colonies  north  of  Maryland  re 
sisted  negro  slavery  from  the  beginning;  we  have  seen 
to  the  reverse.  The  Quakers  of  Pennsylvania  were  the 
most  obdurate  of  all  masters,  excluding  their  slaves  from 
all  the  social  and  public  worship  of  the  living  God,  in 
unison  with  them. 

We  have  seen  that  Penn,  the  philanthropic  Penn,  so 
far  from  ever  attempting  to  legislate  with  his  Quaker 
Assembly  for  the  emancipation  of  slaves,  was  himself  a 
slave  holder  and  lived  and  died  such.  But  little  South 
Carolina,  always  powerful  in  intellect  and  in  effort,  brave, 
generous,  independent,  denounced  the  entire  traffic  as 
iniquitous.  As  early  as  1721  she  resisted  it,  notwith 
standing  the  fact,  that,  as  you  proceed  south  the  labor 
of  the  colored  man  becomes  more  and  more  valuable,  on 
account  of  his  natural  adaptation  to  a  warm  climate 


42 

The  Virginia  planters,  those  most  dependent  on  slave 
labor,  also  resisted  it.  Act  upon  act,  as  we  have  adduc 
ed,  was  passed  to  prohibit  the  importation  of  slaves  within 
its  limits.  All  would  not  do.  "SPOTTSWOOD  plead  this 
resistance  as  his  apology  to  the  mother  country,  for  the 
small  importations  of  slaves  in  Virginia."  He  said  that 
"they  imposed  a  heavy  tax  to  prevent  its  being  done  by 
the  African  Company."  But  by  royal  authority,  that  act, 
and  every  other  were  repealed  to  prevent  it.  The  one, 
passed  with  reference  to  female  slaves,  by  which  the  in 
stitution  might  not  be  prolonged,  being  particularly  repul 
sive  to  British  policy,  was  unceremoniously  repealed.  And 
it  was  to  this  cruel  policy  of  the  British  government  that 
Mr.  Madison  long  afterward  alluded,  and  also  to  the 
colonial  legislation  on  this  subject,  which  was  counter 
acted  by  English  authority,  at  a  time  too,  when  that 
great  statesman  was  certainly  unbiased  by  hostility  to 
England,  who  when  declaring  his  testimony,  remarked 
that  "the  British  government  constantly  checked  the  at 
tempt  of  Virginia  to  put  an  end  to  this  infernal  traffic" 
Who  is  there  that  has  ever  examined  this  subject,  that  is 
not  ready  to  pronounce  this  Virginia  censure,  on  the  dark 
policy  of  England,  most  just,  and  well  calculated  to  ex 
culpate  herself  virtually  from  a  participation  in  slavery, 
as  to  its  origin  within  her  limits. 

On  the  settlement  of  Georgia,  Mr.  Oglethorpe  wrote 
thus.  "My  friend  and  I  settled  that  colony  and  by  our 
charter,  were  established  trustees.  Then  we  determined 
not  to  suffer  slavery  there,  but  the  slave  merchants  and 
their  adherents  not  only  caused  us  much  trouble,  but  at  last 
got  the  sanction  for  their  admission."  Oglethorpe  had  settled 
the  state  of  Georgia,  with  those,  who  had  been  rescued 
from  wretchedness,  and  misery,  by  the  untiring  exertions 
of  this  most  excellent  man.  He  provided  all  the  mea 
sures  necessary  to  prevent  the  introduction  of  slaves,  de 
claring  if  they  were  forced  on  them,  he  would  desert  the 
colony.  Alas  he  could  not,  "mould  the  future"  and  his 
resolution  lasted  no  longer  than  he.  What  could  he  do 
against  British  tyranny?  He  could  not  prolong  his  pow 
ers,  or  resist  that  of  Britain,  much  less  British  cupidity. 
It  was  artfully  effected  thus.  British  emissaries  begun 


43 

to  introduce  slaves  as  hirelings  for  one  hundred  dollars, 
said  to  be  from  South  Carolina,  and  in  a  short  time,  with 
an  effrontery  which  proved  them  duly  authorised  by  the 
British  ministry  and  sovereign,  they  imported  slaves  di 
rectly  from  Africa,  landing  them  at  Savannah  in  Georgia. 
The  colonists  on  finding  that  they  were  of  course  author 
ized  by  the  mother  country,  so  to  act,  did  not  dare  to  en 
force  their  own  laws;  which  had  such  a  direct  bearing 
against  those  of  England,  they  looked  to  their  charter  as 
containing  their  rights.  They  recurred  to  the  wishes  of 
the  excellent  Oglelhorpe.  Then  and  not  till  then  did 
they  dare  to  resist ;  but  behold  !  tell  it  not,  say  you,  pub 
lish  it  not !  but  faithful  history  has  done  it  already,  the 
policy  of  England  found  a  different  plan,  by  which  to 
overcome  their  conscientious  scruples,  and  these  slave- 
dealers,  brought  in  to  their  aid  the  eloquent  WHITE- 
FIELD,  to  plead  the  cause  of  slaves,  before  the  trustees, 
and  to  point  out  the  Christianity  of  slavery.  The  Mora 
vians  asserted  too,  with  great  good  sense,  that  Christian 
men  may  hold  and  govern  slaves,  in  a  Christian  spit  it,  and 
it  was  agreed  that  if  negroes  are  treated  in  a  Christian 
manner,  the  change  from  the  shores  of  Africa  to  those  of 
America  would  be  to  them  an  immense  benefit.* 

A  message  from  Germany  was  "if  you  take  slaves  in 
faith  and  in  intention  of  conducting  them  to  Christ,  the  ac 
tion  will  not  be  sin  but  may  prove  a  benediction."  This  was 
their  doctrine,  and  what  many  believe  though  they  be  no 
slave  holders.  Is  it  too  strong  to  say  that  thus  by  moving, 
both  heaven  and  earth,  Great  Britain  sought  to  accom 
plish  her  ends,  establish  her  policy,  and  aggrandize  her 
citizens,  at  the  expense  of  the  conscience  and  humanity 
and  the  welfare  of  all  the  world  ? 

We  have  seen  that  queen  Anne  gave  royal  instructions 
for  the  encouragement  of  the  slave  trade ;  and  also  that 
queen  Elizabeth,  king  James,  and  we  may  add,  George 
II.,  and  indeed  the  sovereigns,  ministers,  parliament,  and 
people  of  Great  Britain,  all, — all  not  only  encouraged  it, 
but  forced  in  every  way,  both  white  and  colored  slavery, 
their  own  interest  being  the  leading  motive,  on  the  colo- 

*  As  authority  for  the  part  taken  by  Mr.  Whitefield  and  the  Moravians,  see 
Bancroft's  History,  subject  War  with  Spain,  vol.  3,  page  448,  and  also  Url- 
sperger,  iii,  479,  and  iii,  482. 


44 

nists,  when  they  could  not  effect  it  otherwise,  with  all  the 
sanctions  of  Christianity.  Great  Britain,  we  have  also 
seen,  steadily  rejected  the  colonial  restrictions.  She  in 
structed  her  governors  on  pain  of  removal,  not  to  give 
even  a  temporary  assent  to  any  law,  which  would  favor 
its  prevention.  The  earl  of  Dartmouth  illustrated  the 
tendency  of  the  colonists  to  resistance  against  the  policy 
of  England,  by  addressing  to  colonial  agents,  those 
memorable  words,  "We  cannot  allow  the  colonies  to 
check,  or  discourage,  in  any  degree,  a  traffic  so  b  neficial 
to  our  nation.'9  This  was  the  secret  of  the  whole  matter, 
and  if  to  her  benefit  she  would  engage  in  it  again,  "even 
to-day."  We  have  also  seen  that  against  the  will  of  Vir 
ginia,  the  Carolinas  and  Georgia,  the  English,  the  Dutch 
and  the  Colonists  north  of  the  Potomac,  were  all,  in  a 
greater  or  less  degree,  engaged  in  forcing  slaves,  either 
directly  or  indirectly,  on  those  states.  In  the  expansion 
of  population,  it  is  evident  that  Virginia,  the  Carolinas, 
and  Georgia  have  become  mostly  the  sources  of  that  po 
pulation,  which  now  occupies  the  states  called  south 
western  and  southern,  and  any  remarks  made  here,  as  to 
slavery  in  these  old  slave  states,  are  applicable,  virtually, 
to  all  the  new  slave  holding  states;  as  those  removing, 
must  of  course  take  with  them  the  property  which  they 
possess,  that  is  moveable.  Indeed  in  many  instances  they 
would  not  have  removed,  but  to  find  room  and  labor  for 
an  increased  population. 

The  question  of  tolerating  the  slave  trade  and  that  of 
abolishing  slavery  in  those  states,  it  is  apparent,  are  very 
different.  They  rest  on  different  grounds.  The  states 
south  of  the  Potomac  resisted  the  traffic,  passed  laws 
against  it,  imposed  fines  on  it ;  all  of  which  were  repeal 
ed  by  the  mother  country.  They  were  forced  against 
their  will,  and  that  will  founded  in  the  principle  of  liberty, 
not  because  the  African  could  not  inhabit  their  clime,  as 
was  the  case  north  of  the  Pludson,  but  because  they  be 
lieved  it  wrong  in  its  origin,  and  morally  wrong  to  be 
forced  to  receive,  and  have  them  quartered  on  them  at 
their  own  expense.  We  say  they  were  forced  upon  them. 
These  southerners  had  no  ships  in  which  to  import  them, 
and  yet,  when  imported,  they  were  constrained  by  an 


45 

inhuman  and  tyrannical  government  to  buy  them.  An 
imperial  decree  went  forth  that  no  man  should  have  the 
right  to  own  and  cultivate  the  soil,  unless  he  should  be 
come  the  purchaser  of  at  least  four  slaves  for  every  hun 
dred  acres  of  land.  This  law  was  resisted ;  we  repeat, 
it  availed  not.  England  said  you  shall  have  them.  Vir 
ginia  and  the  southern  states  said  then  we  must  receive 
them  on  our  own  terms.  This  right  was  denied  them, 
an  interdict  thereof  was  impossible.  But  the  question  of 
abolishing  slavery  now,  when,  by  the  exercise  of  a  power 
which  those  states  could  not  control,  it  was  introduced 
here,  is  wholly  another  question.  It  stands  on  different 
grounds  altogether. 

When  slaves  were  brought  here  and  placed  in  their 
hands,  it  became  a  trust — it  was  one  they  unwillingly  re 
ceived.  The  other  question  relates  to  the  exercising  that 
trust,  and  we  think  we  shall  see  in  the  sequel,  that  we  must 
consult  not  only  their  welfare,  but  our  own  also,  and 
whilst  we  do,  as  far  as  we  can,  our  duty  toward  them, 
we  must  do  also  our  duty  to  ourselves  and  posterity.  In 
the  Providence  of  God  the  African  race  are  a  trust  com 
mitted  to  the  south  then,  and  although  against  her  will, 
she  must  do  what  she  can  to  exalt  that  race.  She  has 
done  it,  and  she  will  continue  to  do  it,  if  left  to  herself. 
"Originally  gross,  stupid  and  undisciplined  in  the  exer 
cise  of  reason  and  imagination,  they  seemed  in  their 
organization  analagous  to  barbarism."  Their  masters 
have  civilized  them,  and  dependent  on  them  for  civi 
lization  and  light,  initiated  into  the  skill  of  arts  through 
them,  through  them  only  can  they, gain  a  country,  friends 
and  a  home ;  and  reposing  in  them  as  their  protectors 
and  friends,  in  the  proper  time  be  truly  a  great  and 
happy  nation.  The  slave  learns  in  his  second  genera 
tion,  at  least,  to  love  his  master,  to  become  identified 
with  him  and  his  interest,  to  look  to  him  as  his  sure 
friend,  and  feel  most  strongly  bound  to  the  prosperity  and 
welfare  of  his  master's  family.  Even  then  the  condition 
of  an  African  slave  in  America,  is  as  far  superior  to  that 
of  a  chief,  on  the  coasts  of  Africa,  as  day  is  superior  to 
night. 

That  America  would  ultimately  benefit  Africa,  was 
5 


46 

always  the  apology  for  the  slave  trade,  and  although  we 
do  not  believe  that  any  benefit  could  justify  the  outrage 
committed  by  European  tyranny  and  cruelty,  on  oppressed 
Africa,  still,  God,  who  seeth  not  as  man  sees,  has  already 
brought,  as  we  plainly  see,  good  out  of  this  enormous 
evil,  and  will  yet  bring  greater  good  from  it;  in  the  end 
permanent  benefit  to  injured  Africa.  Whilst  we  cannot 
and  do  not  plead  for,  or  justify  the  African  slave  trade, 
we  must  say,  that  the  first  ship  that  brought  Africans  to 
America,  though  in  bondage,  was  in  our  estimation,  the 
sure  pledge  of  a  union  of  trade  and  interest  between  the 
two  races,  white  and  colored,  and  also  that  in  due  time, 
ships  from  the  new  world  would  carry  the  equal  blessings 
of  Christianity  to  the  burning  plains  of  Nigritia,  and  that 
the  descendants  of  bleeding  Africa,  would  toil  for  and 
obtain  the  blessings  of  European  civilization,  sit  down,  as 
we  believe  they  yet  may,  in  their  posterity,  under  the  wide 
spreading  shade  of  their  own  lovely  palm  tree,  and  bless 
the  God  of  the  white  man,  on  Africa's  own  vast  bosom, 
that  ever  they  bought,  by  bondage  in  a  strange  land,  the 
blessings  of  civilized  life,  and  in  that  land,  heard  of  and 
felt  the  power  and  glory  of  a  living  Christianity. 

It  must  therefore  appear  obviously  to  the  considerate 
and  intelligent  reader,  that  the  following  deductions  may 
be  legitimately  drawn,  not  from  our  preceding  remarks 
only,  but  from  the  testimony  of  faithful  history.  1.  That 
slavery  is  an  institution  older  than  tradition  itself,  and 
that  among  others  who  were  in  slavery  in  their  own 
native  land,  are  numbered  the  Africans  in  all  their  tribes. 

2.  That   a  portion  of  those  born  in  slavery,  or  enslaved 
to  prevent  other  and  greater  evils,  or  perhaps  innocently 
enslaved,  were  brought  originally  into  the   colonies  of 
Virginia,  the  Carolinas  and  Georgia,  against  the  will  of 
those  colonies,  and  that  by  an  express  law  of  the  mother 
country,  these  states  were  forced  to  take  four  slaves  for 
every  hundred   acres  of  land   which   they  should   own. 

3.  That  those  states,  the  parents  and  sources  of  slavery 
in  the  new  states,  which  only  received  the  surplus  and 
emigrating  population,  descendants  of  those  who,  con 
trary   to  their   wills,  were  forced   on    them,   cannot  be 
expected  and  ought  not  to  be  required,  to  turn  loose  in 


47 

their  midst,  to  their  own  injury,  that  population  which 
even  now  is  comparatively  but  in  the  commencement  of 
civilized  and  political,  as  well  as  mental  and  moral  train 
ing.  And  this  a  population  too,  against  the  introduction 
of  which  their  forefathers  regularly  protested ;  until  the 
time  in  which  they  shall  themselves  deem  it  proper  and 
safe  to  remove  it.  4.  And  as  it  appears  that  this  is  the 
more  safe,  so  it  also  is  apparent  that  it  is  the  more  con 
sistent  with  the  interests  of  all,  and  especially  so  as 
slavery  has,  from  time  immemorial,  as  herein  shown, 
formed  one  of  the  institutions  of  every  land.  And  as  this 
is  acknowledged  and  recognized  in  that  revelation  which 
God  has  made  of  his  will,  under  both  the  Old  and  New 
Testament  dispensations,  we  shall  boldly  refer  to  that 
revelation. 

But  to  this  last  conclusion  of  ours  there  is  at  once  an 
objection  stated,  and  doctor  Channing  and  a  host  of 
others  are  arrayed  against  us,  proscribing  all  who  dare 
teach  such  unscriptural  doctrine  as  this.  What!  that 
the  Old  Testament  teaches  slavery  ?  Aye,  that  it  does  ! 
But  it  is  still  more  astonishing  the  New  Testament  ac 
knowledges  it,  as  an  institution  existing  in  society  and 
defines  the  duties  of  both  the  master  and  slave.  Yes! 
the  New  Testament  acknowledges  and  admits  of  slavery; 
and  whilst  both  master  and  slave  are  in  the  possession  of 
true  religion,  and  do  their  duty  to  God  and  man — "do  as 
they  would  be  done  by" — servants  are  required  to  serve 
"as  those  that,  serve  the  Lord  Christ,"  when  serving  their 
masters;  and  masters,  "as  those  that  have  a  master  in 
heaven !" 

Come  then,  let  us  with  candor  and  honesty  investigate 
this  subject.  We  say  the  Old  Testament  inculcates  sla 
very,  and  admits  it  to  be  one  of  the  institutions  of  God's 
(the  Jewish)  church.  To  the  law  and  to  the  testimony. 
We  therein  learn  that  Abraham,  the  father  of  the  Faith 
ful,  was  the  owner  of  slaves,  and  a  great  many  of  them 
too,  if  the  Scriptures  state,  which  we  know  they  do,  the 
facts.  The  children  of  Israel  owned  slaves — "slaves" — 
"bought  slaves" — "bond-men" — "men" — "women,"  and 
"children,"  and  this  system  was  carried  with  them  on 
divine  authority,  out  of  Egypt,  into  the  promised  land, 


48 

At  the  giving  of  the  law  it  was  ordered,  "thou  shalt  not 
covet"  "thy  neighbor's"  "man  servant  nor  his  maid  ser 
vant" — a  right  of  property  here  being  positively  affirmed 
in  them,  "nor  any  thing  that  is  thy  neighbor's."  These 
were  his,  as  much  so  as  his  wife,  or  his  ox,  or  his  ass, 
or  any  thing  else.  Moses  says,  "the  Lord  spake 
from  Mount  Sinai,  saying,"  &c.  Here  is  a  sanction 
which  cannot  be  questioned  by  those  who  pretend  to  a 
belief  in  the  authority  of  the  Bible.  "Both  thy  bond-men 
and  bond-maids  which  thou  shalt  have,  shall  be  of  the 
heathen  that  are  among  you."  "Of  them  shall  ye  buy 
bond-men  and  bond-maids."  Is  it  not  remarkable  that 
some  men  will  aver  "that  there  is  no  authority  for  slavery 
in  the  Bible,"  when  there  are  precepts  both  positive  and 
inferential,  founded  on  all  the  enjoined  duties  and  holy 
examples  of  the  Scriptures  ?  Hear  another  !  "Moreover 
of  the  children  of  strangers  that  do  sojourn  among  you. 
Of  them  shall  ye  buy,  and  of  their  families  that  are  among 
you,  which  they  begot  in  your  land,  and  they  shall  be  your 
possession.  They  shall  be  your  bond-men  forever.'" 

We  ask  now,  with  due  deference,  can  God's  law  be 
against  itself?  We  venture  the  assertion,  that  the  entire 
system  of  slavery  as  it  is  set  forth  in  the  Old  Testament,  is 
all  couched  in  this  last  quotation.  Aye!  we  venture  more, 
that  this  is  the  slavery  of  the  United  States  to  ail  intents 
and  purposes.  Originally  heathen,  purchased  with  money, 
begot  in  the  land,  an  inheritance  of  children.  It  was 
such  a  slavery  as  old  Job  had,  who  possessed  "a  very 
great  household"  of  "servants"  or  slaves.  Neither  the 
religion  nor  government  of  enlightened  nations,  is  fit  for 
those  who  are  in  a  barbarous  state,  until  they  are 
enlightened  also,  and  fully  instructed  in  all  social  du 
ties  and  social  relations.  A  new  dispensation  became 
necessary,  not  to  abrogate  the  doctrines  of  the  Old  Tes 
tament,  but  to  modify  their  operation,  so  as  to  render 
them  applicable  to  a  new  state  of  things.  The  wisest 
admit  "that  Christianity  is  but  a  revision  of  the  code  of 
laws  contained  in  the  Old  Testament,  and  not  a  system 
of  laws  based  on  contradictory  principles."  But  in  this 
revision  we  find  that  slavery,  as  an  institution,  is  still 
acknowledged  and  continued.  Christianity  was  to  enter 


49 

into  and  become  the  source  of  light  to  all  nations;  strange 
however  is  it  that  no  passage  is  found  in  the  New  Testa 
ment  where  slavery  is  condemned  or  prohibited.  Paley, 
"the  great  anti-slavery  moralist,"  admitted  this.  Yea, 
more,  "that  there  is  no  authority  derivable  from  the  New 
Testament,  which  justifies  the  assertion,  that  slavery  is 
contrary  to  the  law  of  God."  Christianity  leaves  us 
where  it  finds  us,  as  to  all  our  civil  rights  and  obligations, 
and  therefore  it  neither  alters  nor  ascertains  them.  The 
New  Testament  contains  a  complete  moral  code,  exem 
plified  by  precepts  applicable  to  every  circumstance  and 
situation  of  life.  Slavery  existed  almost  universally  when 
Christ's  mission  was  ushered  in,  and  previous  to  that, 
from  time  immemorial,  as  we  have  seen.  And  so  far 
from  its  being  discountenanced,  or  denounced  as  contrary 
to  God's  law,  as  a  civil  institution,  Christianity  leaves  it 
where  it  found  it. 

It  is  not  the  part  of  Christianity  to  war  against  the  es 
tablished  rights  of  property,  much  less,  as  it  is  taught  by 
abolitionists,  to  endanger  the  peace  and  safety  of  society, 
inducing,  as  we  shall  see,  a  servile  war.  Instead  of  this, 
the  doctrine  taught  by  the  first  preachers  was,  "Servants, 
be  obedient  to  them  that  are  your  masters  according  to 
the  flesh,  with  fear  and  trembling,  with  singleness  of 
heart  as  to  Christ,  not  with  eye  service  as  men-pleasers, 
but  as  servants  of  Christ,  doing  the  will  of  God  from  the 
heart.  With  good  will  doing  service  as  unto  the  Lord 
and  not  to  man.  Knowing  that  whatsoever  good  thing 
any  man  doth,  the  same  shall  he  receive  of  the  Lord 
whether  he  be  bond  or  free.  And  ye  masters  do  the 
same  thing,  forbearing  threatening,  knowing  that  your 
Master  is  also  in  heaven,  neither  is  there  respect  of  per 
sons  with  him."  St.  Paul  came  clothed  with  authority 
from  God,  and  divinely  inspired.  May  we  not  ask  if 
slavery  had  been  this  mighty  sin,  when  it  had  already  be 
come  an  institution  of  a  country,  and  especially  a  slavery 
forced  on  men,  "worse,"  as  abolitionists  say,  "than  mur 
der  and  piracy,"  and  other  vile  crimes,  as  we  shall  see 
in  another  place,  would  he  denounce  murderers,  adulter 
ers,  and  drunkards,  and  not  those  slave  holders?  Do  pray 
let  those  who  believe  in  the  divine  mission  of  Christ  and 
5* 


50 

his  apostles  answer.  "To  discharge  slaves  from  all  obli 
gations,"  says  Doctor  Paley,  "to  obey  their  masters, 
which  is  the  consequence  of  pronouncing  it  to  be  unlaw 
ful,  would  have  no  other  effect  than  to  let  loose  one-half 
of  mankind  upon  the  other,  the  most  calamitous  of  all 
contests,  a  servile  Bellum,  might  probably  have  ensued, 
to  the  reproach,  if  not  the  extinction  of  the  Christian 
name."  Here  is  the  testimony  of  one  of  the  greatest 
anti-slavery  men  that  perhaps  ever  existed.  This  does 
not  look  much  like  abolitionism.  "To  introduce  such  a 
state  would  certainly  not  have  been,"  says  the  doctor,  "to 
Jove  their  neighbors  as  themselves,"  or  "to  do  as  we 
would  be  done  by." 

We  again  say,  that  as  the  New  Testament  does  ex 
pressly  sanction  slavery,  when  it  has  become  by  the 
force  of  circumstances,  an  institution  of  a  country,  it  can 
not  certainly  under  the  circumstances,  which  we  have 
already  shown,  be  contrary  to  the  law  of  God.  And 
where  it  is  thus  an  institution  of  a  country,  submission  to 
it  as  one  of  the  laws  of  that  country,  can  never  be  con 
strued,  under  the  New  Testament,  into  a  violation  of 
God's  law.  How  strange,  then,  does  it  appear  to  the 
unsophisticated  reader  of  the  New  Testament,  to  learn 
from  the  holy  evangelists,  that  our  Lord  Jesus,  the  divine 
author  of  his  gospel,  never  once  uttered  a  single  sentence 
against  slave  holding,  that  heinous  crime  which  abolition 
ists  say  is  "worse  than  piracy  and  murder."  We  know 
that  at  the  time  of  our  Lord's  personal  ministry,  a  system 
of  slavery  existed  under  the  Roman  government,  which  in 
point  of  severity  iar  exceeded  that  of  the  United  States; 
and  yet  he  and  his  disciples,  in  no  one  instance,  bore  tes 
timony  against  it  as  such  a  heinous  crime  in  the  sight  of 
God.  If  it  were,  is  it  not  strange,  passing  strange,  that 
our  Lord  did  not  abrogate  that  part  of  the  law — the  mo 
ral  law,  which  as  much  forbids  the  coveting  of  a  man's 
"man-servant"  as  the  coveting  any  other  species  of  "pro 
perty?"  Why  did  he  not  except  this  when  he  said,  "I 
am  not  come  to  destroy  the  law  but  to  fulfil?"  To  say 
that  it  ought  to  be  done,  and  Christ  did  not  do  it,  is,  im 
piously  to  charge  the  Son  of  God  with  an  ignorance  of 
his  mission,  of  the  moral  power  of  his  own  gospel,  or  a 


51 

most  unaccountable  omission  to  explain  and  enforce  it. 
In  the  gospel  of  Luke,  slavery  is  actually  acknowledged 
by  our  divine  Master  in  these  words,  "But  which  of  you 
having  a  servant  ploughing  or  feeding  cattle  will  say  unto 
him  by  and  by,  when  he  is  come  from  the  field:  Go  and 
sit  down  to  meat?  And  will  not  rather  say  unto  him, 
make  ready  wherewith  I  may  sup,  and  gird  thyself  and 
serve  me,  till  I  have  eaten  and  drunken,  and  afterward 
thou  shall  eat  and  drink  1  Doth  he  thank  that  servant 
because  he  did  the  things  commanded  him  I  I  trow  not." 
Luke  xvii,  7,  8,  9. 

The  above  expression,  "which  of  you  having  a  ser 
vant/'  may,  and  we  believe  ought  to  be  translated  which  of 
you  owning  a  slave.  There  were  no  servants  but  slaves 
at  that  time  under  the  Roman  law,  by  which  the  Jews 
and  our  Lord  too,  who  said,  "Render  unto  Caesar  the 
things  that  are  Caesar's,"  when  he  paid  tribute  for  him 
self  and  Peter,  were  all  alike  governed.  We  presume  Dr. 
Parkhurst,  an  Englishman,  and  an  eminent  divine,  as  well 
as  one  of  the  most  renowned  Greek  and  Hebrew  schol 
ars  of  his  day,  ought  to  be  good  evidence  as  to  the 
meaning  of  the  term,  even  with  "abolitionists,"  who  bow 
with  such  profound  respect  before  British  liberty.  On 
the  word  "DOULOS,"  which  is  used  two  or  three  times  in 
its  terminations  in  the  text  just  quoted,  the  doctor  says  it 
means  "one  in  a  servile  state,  a  servant  or  slave,"  making 
slave  and  servant  synonimous,  as  they  actually  are,  and 
then  goes  on  to  show  how  it  is  applied  to  Christ,  who 
took  upon  himself  the  "form  of  a  servant"  or  slave,  and 
to  Christ's  followers,  who  are  the  "servants,"  slaves  of 
the  living  God,  as  being  not  their  "own,  but  bought  with 
a  price."  I  cannot  but  insert  here  some  of  the  judicious 
remarks  of  the  doctor  on  this  subject. 

First  he  quotes  sundry  texts  to  illustrate  his  meaning 
and  prove  it  correct.  Mat.  x,  24. — Mat.  xxi,  34,  35,  36. 
"And  when  the  time  of  the  fruit  drew  near  he  sent  his 
servants"  (slaves)  "to  the  husbandmen,  that  they  might 
receive  the  fruits  of  it."  "And  they  took  his  servants," 
(slaves)  "and  beat  one,  killed  another,  &c.,  and  again  he 
sent  other  servants"  (slaves)  "more  than  the  first,"  &c. 
So  in  Mat.  xxv,  21,  and  the  following  verses,  "well  done 


52 

good  and  faithful  servant,"  (slave.)  "His  Lord  (his  mns- 
ter)  shall  say  enter  thou  into  the  joy  of  thy  Lord."  So 
in  1  Cor.  vii,20,  21,  and  following  verses,  "Let  every  man 
abide  in  the  same  calling  wherein  he  is  called."  "Art 
thou  called  being  a  servant,"  (a  slave)  "care  not  for  it, 
but  if  thou  mayest  be  free,  use  it  the  rather."  "Brethren, 
let  every  man  wherein  he  is  called,  therein  abide  with 
God."  Eph.  vi,  5,  and  other  texts  quoted  by  the  doctor,  we 
have  quoted  already,  or  they  may  be  seen  by  a  reference 
to  his  excellent  Lexicon.  He  next  proceeds  to  give  a 
description  of  the  condition  of  these  (servants)  or  slaves, 
at  the  time  when  Christianity  and  its  author  acknowledg 
ed  the  obligations  of  servi'ude  with  faithfulness  to  their 
masters.  "The  common  lot  of  slaves  in  general,"  says 
the  doctor,  quoting  Dr.  John  Taylor's  Elements  of  Civil 
Law,  "was  with  the  ancients  in  many  circumstances  very 
deplorable.  Of  their  situation  take  the  following  in 
stances:  They  were  held  pro  nulhs,  pro  mortuis,  pro 
quadrupt'dibus,  for  no  men,  for  dead  men,  for  beasts ; 
nay!  were  in  a  much  worse  state  than  any  cattle  what 
ever.  They  had  no  head  in  the  state,  no  tribe,  no  name 
or  registry.  They  were  not  capable  of  being  injured  ;  nor 
could  they  take  by  purchase  or  descent;  had  no  heirs, 
arid  therefore  could  make  no  will.  Exclusive  of  what 
was  called  their  peculium,  whatever  they  acquired  was 
their  master's.  They  could  not  plead  nor  be  impleaded,but 
were  excluded  from  all  civil  concerns  whatsoever; — were 
not  entitled  to  the  rights  and  considerations  of  matri 
mony,  and  therefore  had  no  relief  in  case  of  adultery, 
nor  were  they  the  proper  objects  of  cognation  or  affinity. 
They  could  be  sold,  transferred  or  pawned  as  goods,  or 
personal  estate  ;  for  goods  they  were,  and  such  were  they 
esteemed.  They  might  be  tortured  for  evidence,  punish 
ed  at  the  discretion  of  their  lord,  (master,)  and  even  put 
to  death  by  his  authority,  together  with  many  other  civil 
incapacities,  which  we  have  not  room  to  enumerate." 
"Truly  deplorable,"  continues  the  doctor,  "was  the  legal 
estate  of  these  unhappy  persons  under  the  Roman  gov 
ernment."  "I  have  the  rather,"  says  he,  "transcribed 
the  above  affecting  account  of  slavery  according  to  the 
Roman  law,  because  by  it  we  shall  be  the  better  enabled 


53 

to  enter  into  the  full  meaning  and  spirit  of  several  pas 
sages  of  the  New  Testament,  particularly  those  in  the 
Epistles  of  St.  Paul."  To  several  of  those  passages  the 
attention  of  the  reader  has  been  already  turned.  And 
thus  he  will  see  that  servant  (DOULOS)  and  slave  are  sy- 
nonimous  terms.  And  it  is  on  this  very  account  that 
among  the  Hebrews  and  neighboring  nations,  the  greater 
part  of  the  servants,  if  not  all,  being  in  bondage,  were 
called  slaves,  as  they  belonged  absolutely  to  their  masters, 
who  had  the  right  to  dispose  of  their  persons,  goods,  and 
in  some  cases,  even  their  lives. 

Now  is  it  not  remarkable,  that  our  Lord  and  his  apos 
tles,  should  address  such  and  command  them  to  "be  obe 
dient  to  their  own  masters  in  all  things?''  The  reason 
ableness  of  such  a  requisition  is  apparent.  Even  if  the 
body  be  killed,  the  soul  cannot,  and  it  is  better  for  one  to 
suffer,  than  the  interest  and  peace  of  the  whole  to  be  up 
turned.  The  penalty  of  all  war  in  that  day,  as  it  is  now 
in  Africa,  Turkey  and  other  parts,  was,  when  overcome 
in  battle,  that  the  conquered  should  go  into  captivity,  and 
become  slaves.  To  prevent  future  slaughter  and  harm, 
this  plan  for  ages,  has  been  adopted  by  many  nations. 
It  \vas  so  when  the  Christian  church  was  first  instituted, 
and  in  view  of  its  origin,  of  all  its  overwhelming  suffer 
ings  and  degradation,  we  find  the  New  Testament  writers, 
enforcing  on  slaves,  their  duty,  and  1.  declaring  that  it  is 
fit,  and  right,  that  they  should  obey,  2.  that  it  is  accord 
ing  to  the  express  commandment  of  God,  3.  that  upon 
the  whole  this  course  is  for  the  interest  of  both  soul  and 
body.  And  4.  that  such  a  course  would  bring  to  our 
holy  religion  the  greatest  credit  and  honor,  whilst,  on 
masters  they  enforced  each  reciprocal  and  corresponding 
duty.  Hear  for  a  moment  the  advice  and  commands 
to  servants  as  set  forth  in  God's  Word.  Their  duties  are 
to  be  discharged  or  performed  with  "humility,  fidelity, 
diligence  and  cheerfulness."  Thus,  "exhort  servants  to 
be  obedient  unto  their  own  masters,  and  to  please  them 
well  in  all  things  not  answering  again,  not  purloining,  but 
showing  all  good  fidelity,  that  they  may  adorn  the  doc 
trine  of  God  our  Saviour  in  all  things,"  Titus  ii,  9,  10. 
And  also,  "who  then  is  that  faithful  and  wise  servant," 


54 

saith  our  Lord,  "whom  his  Lord  hath  made  ruler  over 
his  household,  to  give  them  their  meat  in  due  season. 
Blessed  is  that  servant  whom  his  Lord  when  he  cotneth 
shall  find  so  doing."  But,  and  if  that  servant  "shall  begin 
to  smite  his  fellow  servants  and  eat  and  drink  with  the 
drunken,"  then  shall  he  have  the  merited  displeasure  of 
his  Lord,  Matt,  xxiv,  45,  et  seq. 

We  might  pursue  our  quotations  from,  and  remarks 
upon  God's  Holy  Word,  in  which  it  is  evident  the  duties 
of  both  master  and  servant  are  clearly  set  forth;  it  never 
being  the  intention  of  the  scripture  system  of  religion,  to 
upturn  the  relations  of  human  life,  but  to  enforce  alike  on 
husbands  and  wives,  parents  and  children,  masters  and 
servants,  rulers  and  subjects,  the  absolute  necessity  of 
manifesting  their  faith  in  Christ,  and  the  power  of  this  re 
ligion,  by  discharging  with  humility,  fidelity,  diligence 
and  cheerfulness,  the  duties  of  their  various  relations. 
This  will  be  still  more  apparent  by  a  moment's  considera 
tion  of  the  case  of  Onesimus,  formerly  the  wicked  slave 
of  PHILEMON  a  Christian  master.  He  had  runaway  from 
this  master,  and  not  only  subjected  him  to  the  loss  of  his 
time  and  service,  but  from  what  St.  Paul  says,  it  is  evi 
dent,  as  I  presume  none  will  deny,  that  he  considered 
Philemon  justly  entitled  in  money  or  property,  to  a  remu 
neration  for  the  loss  of  that  time.  What  does  the  apostle 
say  and  do.  He  writes  a  letter  to  Philemon  declarative 
of  his  conviction  of  the  justice  of  such  a  claim.  Yea 
more!  he  sends  the  converted  Onesimus,  dear  as  a  son 
and  especially  necessary  to  him,  in  such  a  time  of  exigen 
cy  ;  he  then  being  in  prison,  orders  him  to  submit  to  his 
lawful  master,  and  pledges  himself  to  that  master  as  se 
curity  that  he  should  have  ample  remuneration,  for  the 
past  unfaithfulness  and  unprofitableness  of  this  runaway 
slave.  How  unlike  the  example  of  those  who  seeking  to 
upturn  the  government  and  laws  of  one  portion  of  this 
union,  by  interfering  with  and  violating  the  rights  of 
others,  rob  them  of  that  which  is  their  property,  under  the 
constitution  and  laws  of  the  several  states,  as  much  so  at 
least  as  was  Onesimus  the  property  of  his  master  Phile 
mon,  according  to  the  laws  of  Rome  and  the  teaching  of 
the  apostle. 


55 

From  all  that  has  been  said  on  this  subject,  we  are  forced 
to  conclude  that  there  is  not  only  herein  an  acknowledg 
ment  of  slavery,  but  that  there  also  is  enforced  the  neces 
sity  of  obedience  to  masters  throughout  the  holy  Scrip 
tures.  We  have  seen  that  Noah  foretold  the  servitude 
of  the  descendants  of  Ham,  Gen  ix,  25.  And  although 
the  descendants  of  Abraham  valued  themselves  on  their 
liberty,  saying,  "we  were  never  in  bondage  to  any  man," 
John  viii,  33.  Yet  were  the  Hebrews  subject  to  several 
princes,  not  as  freemen  and  citizens,  but  as  slaves  to  the 
Egyptians,  Philistines,  the  Chaldeans,  Grecians,  and  Ro 
mans,  to  each  in  succession,  were  they  not  only  politically 
subject,  but  in  a  state  of  absolute  servitude  and  bondage. 
We  have  also  seen  that  under  the  law  of  Moses,  there 
were  two  sorts  of  servitude,  as  there  are  now  among  us, 
one  conditional  the  other  unconditional.  The  Hebrew 
conditional  servant  or  slave,  was  to  be  free,  if  he  desired 
it,  on  the  year  of  jubilee;  if  not  to  have  his  ears  bored 
and  be  a  slave  for  life,  as  he  could  not  possibly  live  to  ano 
ther  jubilee,  But  those  who  were  able  were  permitted  to 
own  foreign  slaves;  slaves  obtained  by  capture,  by  pur 
chase,  or  born  in  their  own  houses.  We  have  also  seen 
that  over  these,  masters  had  an  entire  or  unlimited  autho 
rity.  They  might  sell  them,  exchange  them,  punish  them, 
judge  them,  and  even  put  them  to  death  without  a  public 
judicial  process.  In  this  the  Hebrews  followed  the  rules 
common  to  other  nations,  except  as  they  were  modified 
by  the  humane  precepts  of  the  Mosaic  code.  Whoever 
will  read  attentively  the  21st  chap,  of  Exodus  will  readily 
see,  that  a  Hebrew  himself  might  fall  into  slavery  several 
ways.  Thus,  1.  if  reduced  to  extreme  poverty  he  might 
sell  himself.  "If  thy  brother  that  dwelleth  by  thee  be 
waxen  poor  and  be  sold  unto  thee,"  &c.  Lev.  xxv,39.  Again 
2.  a  father  might  sell  his  own  children  according  to  Exo 
dus,  xxi,  27.  "And  if  a  man  sell  his  daughter  to  be  a 
maid  servant,  she  shall  not  go  out  as  the  men  servants 
do."  3.  Insolvent  debtors  might  be  delivered  to  their 
creditors  as  slaves.  Thus  2  Kings  iv,  1.  Where  a  pro 
phet's  wife  is  heard  crying  to  Elisha,  that  her  husband 
was  dead  "and  the  creditor,"  said  she,  "is  come  to  take 
unto  him  my  two  sons  to  be  bond-men."  Again,  thieves 


56 

not  able  to  make  restitution  for  their  thefts,  or  the  value 
of  the  stolen  goods,  were  sold  for  the  benefit  of  those, 
from  whom  they  had  stolen  those  articles.  As  in  Exo 
dus  xxii,  3.  4.  He  shall  "make  restitution ;  if  he  have 
nothing,  then  shall  he  be  sold  for  his  theft."  So  also  they 
might,  make  prisoners  of  war,  slaves,  as  in  the  case  of 
the  seven  nations.  But  when  a  Hebrew  slave  was  re 
deemed  from  Gentile  bondage  by  one  of  his  brethren,  he 
might  be  sold  by  him  to  another  Israelite;  but  his  master 
by  redemption  or  purchase,  had  no  right  to  sell  him  out 
of  his  country.  In  other  respects  he  was  absolute  master 
of  him  and  his.  Here  was  the  economy  of  the  Old  Tes 
tament  church. 

We  have  also  seen  that  so  far  from  an  alteration  being 
made  under  the  New  Testament,  the  gospel  came  to  the 
nations  of  the  earth  not  to  interfere  in  their  political  in 
stitutions,  but  as  it  found  them,  so  it  pointed  out  the  rela 
tive  dutie^of  each,  that  rjeace,  harmony,  and  happiness 
might  be  diffused  abroad.  Let  not  any  man  that  reads 
the  foregoing,  or  the  subsequent  remarks  on  this  subject, 
think  that  they  are  intended  as  a  plea  for  slavery,  view 
ed  in  the^abstract.  O  no!  We  believe  that  slavery  has 
its  evil  consequences.that  these  in  many  instances  are 
evil,  only  evil;  but  tHat  the  evil  consequences  belong 
mostly  to  the  master  and  his,  not  to  the  slave.  In  a  col 
lective  capacity  we  have  shown  that  their  condition  is 
comparatively  an  exalted  one.  Formerly  that  condition 
was  savage,  now  it  is  civilized.  We  have  shown  that 
they  are  a  trust  committed  to  the  Southern  States  origin 
ally  against  their  wills,  and  against  the  colonial  protests, 
backed  with  all  the  power  that  they  had.  We  have 
shown  that  effort  after  effort  was  used  to  prevent  this 
evil,  and  since  that  it  was  imposed  upon  them,  we  know 
that  they  have  done  much  to  remedy  it.  We  have  seen 
that  Christianity,  carrying  out  the  principles  of  morality, 
that  morality  jnculcated  in  the  moral  lawTdelivered  by 
Moses  on  the  mount,  does  not  interfere  in  it,  only  to  pro 
duce  in  the  master  all  that  kindness  and  love,  which 
shall  tend  to  ameliorate  the  condition  of  the  slave,  and 
lead  him  to  everlasting  life.  We  have  also  seen  that  it 
points  out  to  the  slave  his  duty,  and  that  there  is  in  it 


57 

the  acknowledgment  of  slavery,  as  an  institution  of  a 
country,  certainly  proper  under  some  circumstances  at 
least.  When  the  condition  of  Virginia  and  the  South  is 
brought  up  to  the  rule  of  right — the  standard  of  God's 
Word,  if  there  be  now,  or  ever  was  a  nation  free  from 
the  charge  of  entering  voluntarily  into  slavery,  it  is 
most  certainly  that  part  of  our  country.  And  as  we 
have  before  suggested,  the  population  of  Kentucky,  Ten 
nessee,  Alabama,  Mississippi,  Arkansas,  Missouri,  Louisi 
ana  and  Florida,  is  virtually  but  the  expansion  and  ex 
tension  of  that  of  Virginia,  the  Carolinas  and  Georgia,  if 
we  except  that  portion  of  the  slave  population  introduced 
into  the  Louisiana  country,  previously  to  its  purchase  by 
the  United  States  of  America,  by  the  original  French 
emigrants.  We  cannot,  we  must  not  forget,  that  the 
Old  States  resisted  the  introduction  of  slaves  into  their 
borders  constantly  before  the  revolutionary  war.  After 
that  period,  in  their  own  legislative  assemblies,  and  in  the 
convention  for  preparing  and  adopting  a  constitution  for 
the  United  States,  it  is  notorious  that  Virginia  and  North 
Carolina  continued  faithful,  these  states  manfully  fought 
against  the  slave  trade,  and  were  only  forced  to  consent 
to  its  continuance,  until  the  year  1808,  by  the  votes  of 
New  Hampshire,  Massachusetts  and  Connecticut,  who 
came  in  to  the  help  of  those  states  which  desired  it.  This 
is  a  curious  fact  that  faithful  history  has  already  record 
ed,  and  one,  too,  to  which  we  shall  feel  bound  to  refer  at 
another  time. 


PART    II. 


THE  FALLACY  OF  THAT  APPLICATION  WHICH  DR.  CHANNING  HAS 
MADE  OF  THE  ABSTRACT  PRINCIPLES  OF  THE  MORAL  LAW 
AND  NATURAL  RIGHTS  TO  MEN,  WITHOUT  RESPECT  TO  THEIR 
RELATIONS,  THE  REVEALED  WILL  OF  GOD  RESPECTING  THOSE 
RELATIONS,  AND  THE  VOLITION  OF  THE  PARTIES  CONCERNED 
IN  THE  PREMISES.  THAT  SLAVERY,  AS  IT  EXISTS  IN  VIR 
GINIA  AND  THE  SOUTH,  OUGHT,  THEREFORE,  TO  BE  RELA 
TIVELY  CONSIDERED. 

IF  we  understand  that  system  of  revelation  contained 
in  the  Bible,  man  was  originally  endowed  with  great  in 
tellectual  powers,  with  a  capacity  to  see  and  feel  his  duty ; 
and  this  knowledge  of  it,  was  communicated  to  him  by 
his  Creator.  He  was  not  left  to  find  it  out  by  reflection 
and  reasoning,  but  was  made  acquainted  with  his  rela 
tions,  and  the  obligations  resulting  from  them,  at  once. 
It  is  true,  that  in  consequence  of  sin,  this  light  became 
dim,  and  the  moral  code  of  the  heathen  at  least,  became 
imperfect,  as  it  left  out  some  duties  and  exhibited  others, 
only  in  a  mutilated  form.  Nevertheless  some  notion  of 
the  moral  law  has  been  widely  diffused,  and  traces  of  it 
may  be  discovered,  even  among  the  most  barbarous  and 
savage  nations.  So  that  according  to  the  apostolic  de 
claration,  the  Gentiles,  who  have  not  the  written  law, 
do  by  nature  the  things  enjoined  by  it,  and  show  "that 
the  work  of  the  law  is  written  upon  their  hearts,"  by  the 
operations  of  conscience,  which  sometimes  accuses,  and 
at  others  excuses  them.  See  Rom.  ii,  14.  And  whether 
we  view  this  as  the  result  of  tradition,  or  of  reasoning,  or 
the  remnant  of  that  revelation  once  given,  or  a  part  of 
the  law  and  constitution  of  our  nature,  it  is  the  same. 


60 

they  perceive  the  propriety  and  impropriety  of  certain 
actions.  As  to  the  sources. of  this  knowledge  there  is 
a  diversity  of  opinion,  as  well  as  a  difference  about  the 
grounds  or  reasons  of  moral  obligation.  With  regard  to 
this  last  point,  some  will  say  we  are  to  perform  good  ac 
tions  because  it  is  right  we  should  do  so, — others  will, 
and  do  strenuously  contend  it  should  be  done,  because 
they  are  conformable  to  reason  and  nature.  A  third, 
because  they  are  conformable  to  truth ;  a  fourth,  because 
they  are  agreeable  to  the  fitness  of  things ;  a  fifth,  be 
cause  of  the. genera]  good  to  which  they  contribute. 
The  fitness  of  things  has  been  much  insisted  on  by  all 
metaphysical  writers.  Their  abstruse  speculations,  hard 
ly  to  be  comprehended,  even  by  the  learned,  could  never 
be  intended  as  the  ground  of  moral  action  to  mankind  at 
large,  and  we  must  look  for  one  more  simple  and  easy  to 
be  understood  by  all  capacities. 

As  nothing  is  more  erroneous,  so  nothing  can  be  more 
unprofitable  than  vain  speculations  on  abstract  moral 
principles.  Whoever  has  properly  considered  the  law 
of  God,  must  have  been  forcibly  struck  with  the  fact, 
that  it  ever  acknowledges  the  varied  relations  of  man, 
and  only  points  out  his  duty,  as  expressed  by  the  Creator, 
in  view  of  those  relations.  The  moral  law  has  been  by 
some  denominated  an  epitome  or  transcript  of  the  Di 
vine  Mind,  and  consequently,  an  expression  of  the  will 
of  our  Creator,  TO  whom  the  good  is  ever  acceptable, 
and  who  must  be  averse  in  his  nature  to  that  which  is 
properly  evil.  As  God  is  immutable,  so  he  must  have 
been  always  good,  and  consequently,  have  at  this  mo 
ment  the  same  viewrs,  if  we  may  so  speak,  of  wrong  and 
right  which  he  has  ever  had.  That  is  to  say,  what  was 
opposed  to  the  moral  law  at  the  creation,  must  be  now 
opposed  to  it, — for,  as  it  is  an  epitome  of  the  divine 
mind,  it  must  simply  be  God's  eternal  decision  within 
himself,  as  to  wrong  and  right.  The  moral  law,  as  pro 
claimed  to  Moses,  (not  the  ceremonial  or  political,)  has 
been  construed  to  be  an  expression  of  this  mind.  It  is 
denominated  moral  because  it  respects  moral  actions,  not 
ceremonial  observances ;  to  distinguish  it  from  positive 
precepts  which  were  only  of  temporary  obligation.  This 


61 

moral  law  has  evidently  no  relation  to  time  or  place,  or 
to  one  nation  more  than  another :  and  being  founded  in 
their  relations  to  the  Creator,  and  to  one  another,  must 
retain  its  authority  under  every  dispensation.  Our  own 
opinion  is,  that  there  is  no  obligation  without  a  law,  and 
the  knowledge  of  that  law ; — nor  can  there  be  a  law 
without  the  will  of  a  superior.  If  a  man  act  contrary  to 
the  fitness  of  things,  or  utility  or  general  happiness,  &c., 
you  may  pronounce  him  unreasonable,  but  cannot  call 
him  criminal.  He  may  subject  himself  to  inconvenience 
and  even  suffering,  but  he  is  only  foolish,  not  guilty.  The 
utility  of  a  moral  rule  is  taught  by  some,  as  the  ground 
of  obligation;  and  hence  whatever  is  expedient,  is  by 
them  said  to  be  "right."  Paley  says,  " Actions  are  to  be 
estimated  by  their  tendency/'  Now  the  fact  is,  we  are 
ignorant  and  incapable  of  judging  of  the  tendency  of 
actions  to  a  good  and  proper  end.  We  know  not  whe 
ther  they  are  for  the  ultimate  happiness  or  misery  of  our 
fellow  creatures.  And  whilst  abstractly  we  confess  this 
is  right,  or  that  is  wrong, — when  we  view  men  under  the 
providential  circumstances  and  relations  of  life, — we  are 
called  to  discharge  our  duty  with  respect  to  these  rela 
tions; — submitting  to  infinite  wisdom,  what  we  can  nei 
ther  comprehend  nor  account  for,  and  acknowledging 
God's  will,  wrhen  expressed,  as  the  law  or  rule  of  our 
obligation.  We  are  not  to  confound  the  effects  of  a  law 
with  the  reason  of  it,  nor  are  we  to  conclude  that  because 
laws  are  productive  of  happiness,  they  are  intended  to 
accomplish  this  end,  according  to  a  plan  or  design  in 
perfect  accordance  with  mortals'  views.  They  may  re 
sult  from  the  nature  of  things,  or  the  relations  which 
subsist  in  the  universe,  and  the  good  resulting  from  them, 
may  be,  and  doubtless  is,  but  a  consequence  of  the  be 
nevolence  which  gave  existence  to  the  system  of  creation. 
Now  it  is  apparent  that  the  details  of  morality  will  be 
affected  by  the  principle  which  is  assumed  as  its  founda 
tion,  or  by  the  rule  of  action  which  is  established.  We 
are  not  to  believe  that  the  same  conclusions  will  be  drawn 
by. the  person  that  founds  it  in  the  fitness  of  things,  and 
he  that  places  it  in  general  utility.  This  forces  us  to  a 
conclusion  that  obligation  is  dependent  on,  and  founded 
6* 


62 

in  the  will  of  our  creator,  as  expressed  and  properly  ap 
plied  to  the  relations  of  life:  benighted  reason  being  no 
more  a  proper  guide,  than  abstract  ideas  concerning  the 
moral  law,  without  reference  to  God's  expressed  will.  It 
is,  in  view  of  a  revelation  to  us,  evident,  that  an  ex 
pression  of  God's  will  determines  the  morality  of  our 
actions  in  connection  with  the  circumstances  in  which 
we  are  placed.  Upon  due  consideration,  it  will  also  be 
found  that  the  will  of  our  Creator  is  to  be  the  rule  of  our 
lives,  and  by  it  is  to  be  also  determined  the  morality  of 
an  action.  What  would  be  abstractly  considered  a  sin, 
because  a  violation  of  the  moral  law,  would  be  right, 
when  He  who  is  our  superior  and  Creator  commands  or 
evidently  points  out,  that  it  jshould  be  done.  We  take  as 
illustrative  of  our  meaning  a  few  examples.  The  com 
mand  of  God  to  the  Israelites  to  destroy  the  seven  Ca- 
naanitish  nations;  men,  women,  and  innocent  children. 
Was  it  right  or  wrong  to  do  it  ?  Was  it  not  a  violation 
of  the  command,  "thou  shalt  not  kill?"  Is  not  all  war, 
whether  offensive  or  defensive,  a  violation  of  this  com 
mand?  Was  not  the  order  to  slay  Agag  and  his  subjects 
a  violation  of  it  ?  We  ask  then,  wherein  consists  the  mo 
rality  or  immorality  of  obedience,  or  its  opposite?  Is  it 
not  in  the  expressed  will  of  the  Creator,  under  the  cir 
cumstances,  and  if  so,  is  war,  though  in  it  we  kill,  under 
all  its  varied  circumstances,  an  infringement  of  the  mo 
ral  law?  Is  it  a  moral  evil?  If  so  once,  must  it  not  be  so 
always?  Is  not  its  morality  or  immorality  dependent  on 
a  law,  prescribing  the  relations  of  life,  or  on  the  express 
ed  will  of  the  Creator?  Take  another  case!  It  is  said 
"thou  shalt  not  commit  adultery."  "Thou  shalt  not  covet 
thy  neighbor's  wife,"  &c.  And  yet  how  is  it  that  poly 
gamy  was  allowed  even  in  Abraham,  "the  father  of  the 
faithful,"  a  "wife  of  whoredoms"  in  Hosea,  and  that  Da 
vid  and  Solomon  should  have  "many  wives?"  Is  not  the 
moral  law  unalterable?  Take  then  the  same  principle 
and  apply  it  to  the  subject  of  slavery.  Whilst  every  man 
will  say  that  slavery  in  the  abstract  is  wrong,  and  irre- 
concileable  with  the  principles  of  right  as  set  forth  in  the 
moral  law  abstractly  considered  ;  who  will  say  that  un 
der  every  circumstance  slavery  is  a  moral  evil,  an  in- 


63 

fringement  of  the  moral  law,  any  more  than  he  will  say 
that  Abraham  was  guilty  of  murder,  when  by  the  com 
mand  of  God  he  made  ready  to  slay  his  "only  son  Isaac." 
The  question  is  simply  this,  is  slavery,  under  all  circum 
stances,  a  moral  evil — a  violation  of  the  moral  law?. 

Now  we  have  proved  that  long  before  the  delivery  of 
the  decalogue,  there  were  not  only  slaves  among  idola 
trous  nations,  but  that  the  patriarchs  had  them.  Noah 
prophetically  foretold  the  slavery  of  a  part  of  his 
posterity  as  already  qu<fted,  and  the  decalogue  itself  ac 
knowledged  it,  "thou  shalt  not  covet  thy  neighbor's  man 
servant  nor  maid -servant,"  &c.,  and  we  deny  that  it  is  a 
violation  of  that  law  under  all  circumstances.  That 
slavery  is  an  evil  wherever  it  may  exist  we  readily  admit, 
and  that  it  is  the  part  of  the  Christian  philanthropists,  to 
prepare  the  way  for  relieving  his  country  from  it,  we 
also  admit.  But  we  cannot  admit  that,  as  it  exists  in  most 
parts  of  the  United  States,  it  is  a  moral  'evil,  because  of 
its  connexion  with  other  circumstances.  That  these  may 
exist  and  that  under  them,  the  act  of  holding  slaves  is  not 
a  sin  against  God,  and  that  property  in  man  has  been 
under  some  such  circumstances  recognized  in  the  divine 
law,  and  is  still  so  recognized  is  apparent.  Not  only 
so,  but  there  are  doubtless  circumstances,  where  it  is  not 
only  lawful,  but  a  duty  to  hold  slaves,  when,  without  a 
change  of  circumstances,  the  act  of  liberation  would  be  a 
sin  against  God,  and  one  too  of  the  most  cruel  character. 
We  have  seen  that  thg  question  of  right  and  wrong  is 
universally  decided  in  connexion  with  circumstances  and 
not  abstractly.  It  is  apparent  that  every  sin  according 
to  the  morality  of  the  Bible,  must  be  an  act  attended  by 
a  number  of  circumstances,  which  are  essential  to  the 
commission  of  crime.  With  all  these  circumstances  there 
may  be  sin,  without  any  one  of  them,  though  there  may 
be  a  violation  of  a  commandment,  there  is  no  sin;  and 
by  parity  of  reason  a  commandment,  obeyed,  not  in  the 
proper  spirit,  or  attended  with  all  its  legitimate  circum 
stances,  is  no  obedience  to  God  at  all.  And,  if  we  have 
proved,  and  we  believe  we  have,  that  the  circumstances, 
attendant  upon  slavery,  in  the  United  States,  not  as  to  its 
origin  ;  but  as  to  its  continuance,  until  a  proper  time  for 


64 

its  relief,  are  of  such  character,  it  is  not  a  sin.  On  what 
ever  ground  the  precepts  of  the  moral  law  may  be  sup 
posed  to  rest,  the  reason  why  we  are  bound  to  obey  them, 
is  the  will  of  God.  This  makes  them  law  to  us,  and  not 
our  perceptions  of  their  fitness  or  utility.  That  only,  is 
a  law,  which  proceeds  from  the  will  of  a  superior,  obedi 
ence  and  authority  are  correlates,  the  one  supposes  the 
other.  To  us  who  enjoy  revelation,  questions  concerning 
the  abstract  foundations  of  morality,  are  unnecessary,  and 
the  best  thing  which  can  be  said  of  them  is,  that  they  are 
idle  speculations,  because  our  morality  will  not  constitute 
a  part  of  religion,  unless  it  respects  his  will.  The  man 
who  believes  that  his  duty  is  enjoined  by  the  authority  of 
God,  possesses  all  the  requisite  knowledge  for  practical  pur 
poses,  and  tliis  will,  under  the  circumstances,  he  must  be 
governed  by,  a  true  knowledge  of  the  subject  and  duty 
arising  in  the  proper  consideration  of  those  circumstances. 
When  we  attempt  to  derive  our  obligations  from  any 
other  source,  we  turn  morality  into  a  matter  of  calcula 
tion.  We  are  incompetent  to  decide  as  to  general  good, 
or  as  to  the  fitness  of  things;  we  decide  only  as  God's 
word  allows  or  commands  under  existing  circumstances. 
This  brings  our  duty  within  the  scope  of  every  man. 
From  the  Old  Testament  we  have  seen  that  property  in 
man  however  some  may  stare  at  it,  was  allowed,  and 
moreover  that  slavery  in  some  form  existed  not  only  at 
the  patriarchal  day,  but  from  time  immemorial.  That 
God  not  only  permitted  it,  but  absolutely  provided  for  its 
perpetuity.  That  in  the  precepts  of  the  New  Testament 
the  relation  of  master  and  slave  is  not  only  acknowledged, 
but  remained  undisturbed,  each  one  having  his  appropri 
ate  duty  pointed  out,  and  that  the  rights  of  the  master  as 
the  owner  of  slave  property,  are  protected  by  express 
law.  The  act  of  holding  a  slave  then  under  all  circum 
stances,  God  being  judge,  is  not  a  sin. 

All  therefore,  that  doctor  Channing  has  said  on  the 
subject  of  slavery  as  a  sin,  is  of  no  avail,  when  viewed 
in  the  lights  of  revelation,  and  in  connexion  with  sur 
rounding  circumstances.  We  admit  with  him  that  men 
have  sacred  rights,  and  women  and  children  too.  We  go 
farther,  and  say,  that  the  rights  of  men  are  different  from 


65 

those  of  women,  under  God's  law,  because  that  their  cir 
cumstances  are  different;  and  that  the  rights  of  children 
are  different  from  both,  for  the  same  reason.  Moreover 
it  is  evident  that  doctor  Channing  agrees  with  us  in  this. 
Let  us  refer  to  his  chapter  of  explanations,  given  to 
prevent  the  misapplication  of  his  own  principles.  We 
agree  with  the  Doctor,  as  to  many  of  the  evils  of  slavery, 
but  our  views  as  to  the  means  of  removing  it,  are  very 
different;  and  \ve  differ  with  him  on  abolitionism  "toto 
cdo." 

Having  made  these  remarks  on  moral  obligation,  and 
on  slavery  in  general,  we  propose  distinctly  to  consider 
what  has  been  said  by  doctor  Channing  and  others,  on  it 
as  it  exists  in  the  United  States,  and  of  the  duties  of  those 
states  in  which  it  exists,  under  present  circumstances. 
Now,  whilst  we  most  cheerfully  accord  to  the  Doctor,  the 
meed  of  praise  for  his  attainments  and  his  professed  dis 
interested  benevolence,  we  are  forced  to  the  conclusion, 
that  like  too  many  others,  he  has  every  kind  of  sense  but 
common  sense.  If  he  would  only  look  at  things  as  they 
exist,  and  then  seek  a  remedy,  all  might  be  well;  for  the 
lack  of  this,  we  find  a  combination  of  abstract  principles, 
which,  on  account  of  circumstances,  as  we  believe  it  is 
easy  to  prove,  are  almost  wholly  inapplicable  to  this  im 
portant  subject — a  subject  of  vital  interest  to  all  that  por 
tion  of  the  United  States,  south  of  the  Potomac.  The 
phrases  "rights  of  man,"  "natural  rights,"  &c.  have  been 
well  pronounced  to  be,  by  an  estimable  author,  Mr.  J. 
L.  Carey,  very,  ambiguous  terms,  on  which  it  is  unsafe  to 
bottom  general  reasonings.  As  rights  are  most  evidently 
conditional,  the  proper  measure  of  them  is  to  be  found  in 
the  character  of  the  man.  Thus  to  the  possession  of  every 
right,  is  annexed  the  performance  of  a  corresponding 
duty,  as  the  tenure  by  which  it  is  held.  This  performance 
ceasing,  the  right  evidently  fails.  Not.  that  certain  rights 
are  attached  to  certain  duties,  by  way  of  recompense,  for 
the  sake  of  which  a  man  is  called  on  to  perform  the  duties, 
but  in  the  nature  of  things,  this  very  connection  exists. 
There  is  nothing  of  exaction  or  oppression  in  one  man's 
possessing  rights  more  extensive  than  another,  for  they 
are  almost  instinctively  awarded  to  him.  The  principle 


66 

upon  which  a  person  refrains  from  violating  the  estate  of 
his  neighbor,  is  of  a  kindred  nature  with  that  which 
prompts  one  to  pay  respect  to  a  good  and  great  man, 
venerable  by  age,  and  still  more  august  by  reason  of  a 
life  of  honorable  services.  In  proportion  as  new  relations 
arise,  a  man's  rights  enlarge.  A  man  acquires  a  right  to 
land  by  improving  it,  supposing  it  to  have  been  before 
common.  That  is,  a  value  is  imparted  to  it,  which  being 
derived  from  himself,  constitutes  it  his  own  peculiar  pro 
perty.  Are  the  rights  of  the  philosopher  and  the  untaught 
savage  the  same?  Are  the  rights  of  the  holy  Christian 
and  the  profligate  wretch  identical  ?  Or  those  of  the  vir 
tuous  woman  and  the  prude?  We  know  that  much  is 
said,  and  much  too  has  been  written  about  "inalienable 
rights,"  all  which  seem  to  us  absurd,  unless  they  be  in 
herent  and  absolute.  If  they  can  be  acquired  they  may 
be  lost,  and  the  daily  decisions  of  courts  of  justice  prove 
it;  and  whilst  we  admit  that  all  men  have  the  right  to 
political  freedom,  we  can  easily  see  how  a  people  may, 
by  their  ignorance  and  vices  not  only  prove,  but  actually 
render  themselves  unfit  for  its  enjoyment  or  exercise. 
Take  then  such  a  people  and  place  them  on  an  equality 
in  every  respect,  with  the  most  refined,  the  civilized  and 
the  virtuous.  Who  does  not  see  that  it  would  be  to  plunge 
one  or  the  other  into  scenes  of  violence  and  bloodshed,  so 
that  despotism  the  vilest,  must  necessarily  ensue  ?  It  has 
been  well  said,  that  "such  a  people  are  not  made  slaves  by 
the  usurpation  of  a  king,  they  make  themselves  slaves." 
Yes !  slaves  of  the  most  degraded  character !  We  do 
not  mean  by  these  remarks,  to  say  that  personal  freedom 
is  not  the  undoubted  right  which  every  man  ought  to 
possess,  because  no  man  ought  to  render  himself  or  pos 
terity  incapable  of  using  it  properly.  Who  will  admit 
that  slavery,  as  a  permanent  institution  of  a  country,  is 
right  ?  Not  one  perhaps,  if  it  be  viewed  in  the  abstract. 
But  those  who  are  acquainted  with  no  other  condition 
than  that  of  servitude,  who  are  satisfied  with  their  situa 
tion,  and  desire  no  other,  being  unfit  for  it,  are  not  only 
unconscious  of  injury,  but  indeed  suffer  none,  except  so 
far  as  the  power  of  the  master  is  used  in  a  tyrannical 
manner,  for  purposes  of  cruelty  or  mere  gain,  and  with 


67 

no  view  of  elevating  the  slave,  in  order  that  he  and  his 
posterity  may  ultimately  emerge  with  safety,  into  a  con 
dition  that  is  more  becoming  and  congenial  with  the 
nature  of  a  rational  intelligence. 

And  from  this  view  of  the  subject,  we  think  that  poli 
tical  slavery  is  the  only  suitable  condition  for  some  people 
for  a  time,  and  indeed,  that  personal  servitude  on  account 
of  the  imbecility  of  others,  is  their  most  appropriate 
station. 

In  view  then  of  these  principles,  it  is  obvious  that  it  is 
only  by  reason  of  the  conditions  of  the  case,  that  this  re 
lation  becomes  proper  at  all,  as  we  have  already  argued. 
"Who  finds  fault  with  a  child  because  he  is  not  a  man? 
Or  who  expects  from  him  the  government  of  a  man  ?"  is 
asked  by  one.  Does  not,  we  will  ask,  parental  authority 
find  restraint  over  children  indispensable,  and  will  any 
complain  of  it  as  tyrannical?  Can  any  man  suppose 
that  the  same  rule  of  subordination  is  equally  appli 
cable  to  the  strong  and  imbecile,  the  learned  and  the 
untaught,  the  civilized  and  barbarian  ?  Indeed  civili 
zation  and  barbarism  are  extremes,  the  one  takes  the 
position  of  personal  control,  the  other  of  personal  servi 
tude,  This  will  lead,  as  has  been  justly  said  when  decid 
ing  on  the  morality  of  slavery,  to  an  inquiry  into  the  true 
condition  of  the  enslaved.  "  Were  they  free  and  civilized 
before  ?"  is  a  very  important  question.  Were  they  capa 
ble  of  self-government?  If  they  were,  then  the  most  in 
calculable  injury  has  been  done  them.  Take  the  case  of 
Poland  as  enslaved  by  Russia,  and  Greece  as  enslaved 
by  Turkey.  Here  the  injury  was  extreme,  and  their  sub 
jugation  most  unjust.  So  also  has  violence  been  used  in 
their  government  ?  God's  law  would  condemn  it,  but  even 
in  this,  men  run  into  absurdities,  where  they  abstractly 
consider  them,  without  regard  to  condition.  For  although 
slavery,  from  its  great  liability  to  abuse,  may  become  the 
greatest  evil  that  can  befal  a  man,  yet  it  is  certain  that  it 
may  be  a  voluntary,  and  indeed  sometimes  a  necessary 
relation,  which  may  subsist  to  the  mutual  advantage  of 
both  parties,  to  the  benefit  of  both  master  and  slave.  It 
may  be  also  most  easily  perceived,  how  the  Almighty 
God  may  design  a  blessing  to  a  degraded  people,  by  plac- 


68 

ing  them  in  bondage,  among  a  civilized  community,  no 
with  a  view  to  perpetuate  slavery  as  such,  but  as  tht 
means  of  receiving  the  elements  of  useful  knowledge  anc 
morals,  and  return  the  same  back  on  the  bosom  of  tha 
community  from  which  they  sprang.  We  are  sure  heathen; 
could  not  well  receive  the  elements  of  civilization  in  anj 
other  way.  True,  the  course  of  discipline  is  a  severe  one 
but  can  an  individual  attain  to  wisdom  and  virtue  withou 
schooling?  Certainly  not.  And  how  could  it  be  other 
wise  with  a  nation  ?  Besides,  this  process  must  be  in  tht 
same  ratio  with  the  state  of  degradation.  And  we  affirn 
it  as  our  opinion,  that  so  far  from  slavery  being  the  vio 
lation  of  all  rights,  and  the  consummation  of  all  wrongs 
we  cannot  conceive  how  an  uncivilized  race  can  exis 
among  civilized  communities,  if  brought  thither,  in  an} 
other  relation.  Could  they  maintain  any  other,  until  aftei 
a  due  course  of  instruction  and  discipline,  with  pru 
dence  and  safety  to  both  parties,  that  relation  might  be 
changed  ?  Does  not  all  history  prove  that  an  ignoran 
savage,  when  thrown  into  the  society  of  civilized  man 
instantaneously  regards  him  as  his  superior?  Does  he 
not  reverence  and  obey  him  ?  Conscious  of  his  owr 
ignorance,  he  ardently  desires  to  learn,  and  willingly  sub 
mits  to  such  an  one  as  his  superior.  Could  the  one,  wt 
ask,  impart  that  knowledge  without  obedience,  or  the 
other,  who  receives  it,  have  any  return  to  make,  but  tha 
of  personal  service  ?  Here,  to  all  intents  and  purposes 
the  relation  of  master  and  slave  must  actually  exist 
Modern  abolitionists  would  teach  such  an  one,  that  hi; 
master  is  a  "man  stealer"  a  "tyrant,"  and  force  that  ser 
vant  to  become  a  black  hearted,  revengeful  murderer. 

The  apostolic  injunction  already  quoted  by  us,  "servant! 
be  obedient  to  them  that  are  your  masters  according  U 
the  flesh,  with  fear  and  trembling,  in  singleness  of  hear 
as  unto  Christ,"  and,  on  the  other  hand,  "ye  masters  dt 
the  same  thing  unto  them,  forbearing  threatening, knowing 
that  your  master  is  in  heaven,  neither  is  their  respect  o 
persons  with  him."  Eph.  vi,  5,  9,  shows  us  that  the  situa 
tion  of  a  master  is  one  of  great  danger  and  difficulty 
This  is  admitted.  That  it  may  afford  an  occasion  foi 
the  exercise  of  great  injustice  is  also  admitted.  A  bac 


69 

man  will  be  bad  any  where  and  any  how.  The  situation 
is  not  certainly  a  desirable  one,  and  is  evidently  one  of 
great  responsibility.  Providence  has  appointed  the  mas 
ter  to  be  the  guardian  of  his  servants,  and  where  this 
responsibility  comes  in  the  proper  order  of  things — we 
mean  by  inheritance,  or  by  purchase,  in  a  country  where 
slavery  exists  as  one  of  its  institutions,  it  is  certainly  not 
a  mark  of  magnanimity  for  a  man  to  cast  them  off,  and 
shun  it,  and  under  pretence  of  setting  them  free,  withdraw 
himself  from  their  protection  and  his  responsibility,  leav 
ing  them  in  the  bosom  of  a  community  where  they  cannot 
enjoy,  and  are  equally  incapable  of  exercising  the  rights 
of  freemen.  There,  often  surrounded  by  incentives  to 
vice,  incapable  of  self-government,  exposed  to  indolence 
and  crime,  they  become  the  most  profligate  wretches. 
Is  not  this  in  any  State,  whether  slave  or  free,  the  case 
with  free  negroes '[ 

The  natural  state  of  savages  may  be  always  said  to  be 
one  of  war.  This  has  from  the  most  ancient  periods  of 
its  history,  been  the  true  condition  of  Africa.  According 
to  their  invariable  custom,  all  captives  taken  in  war  are 
slaves,  and  when  they  cannot  use  or  sell,  they  slay  them. 
This  is  still,  as  it  has  been  there  from  unknown  ages,  their 
custom.  It  is  said  and  published,  on  the  very  best  autho 
rity,  that  a  chief,  but  very  lately  in  the  presence  of  com 
missioners  sent  on  business  in  the  interior  of  Africa,  slew 
with  his  own  hand  a  number  of  prisoners,  for  whom  he 
had  no  "need,  as  slaves,  and  for  whom  he  could  find  no 
sale.  So  when  a  chief  dies,  many  slaves,  according  to 
his  dignity,  are  killed  as  his  attend'ants  in  another  world. 
This  custom  of  putting  them  to  death  has  been  terminated 
only  by  the  prospect  of  a  disposition  of  them,  to  the  slave 
dealers  on  the  coast,  so  that  the  slave  trade,  with  all  its 
horrors,  would  seem  to  be  preferable  to  a  captivity  by 
African  chiefs,  which  must  be  both  slavery  and  a  violent 
death.  In  view  then  of  these  facts,  let  us  look  at  the 
bondage  of  the  African  race  in  America,  and  especially 
in  Maryland,  Virginia,  and  the  south,  and  ask  with  an 
enlightened  author,  "Were  they  a  free  and  civilized  peo 
ple,  dwelling  under  the  government  of  wise  and  whole 
some  laws,  were  they  lorn  from  a  state  of  independence 
7 


70 

and  happiness  by  violence,  and  condemned  to  unaccus 
tomed  toil  and  degradation  in  a  strange  land  ?"  What 
have  we  just  seen  ?  Does  not  every  relation  of  facts  deny 
this  ?  Were  not  the  ancestors  of  these  very  negroes  as  at 
this  day  on  the  coast  of  western  Africa,  except  the  few 
lately  conv3rted  to  Christianity,  sunk  in  a  superstition,  bar 
barous  and  cruel,  and  accustomed  to  every  vice  ?  Is  there 
on  earth  a  race  of  people  so  deeply  immersed  in  crime,  and 
abjectly  plunged  in  the  lowest  degradation  and  imbecility  ? 
There,  slavery  has  existed  as  a  part  of  their  institutions 
so  long,  that  no  man  in  all  the  earth  can  tell  at  what  pe 
riod  it  did  not,  since  the  flood,  exist ;  and  that  too  a 
slavery  the  most  oppressive.  A  master  even  among  the 
most  enlightened  tribes,  does  always  put  a  domestic  slave 
to  death  after  a  palaver,  and  all  others  at  his  pleasure,  as 
above  shown.  May  we  not  then  ask,  what  was  the  in 
jury  inflicted  on  the  slaves  of  Africa,  in  carrying  them 
abroad  for  purposes  of  labor,  there  to  shun  a  worse  bond 
age  at  home?  Aye,  to  shun  a  cruel  death  at  the  hands 
of  a  savage,  who,  the  subject  of  caprice  and  passion  un 
controlled,  subjects  to  a  barbarous  servitude  in  life,  and 
tortures  at  pleasure,  to  death.  We  believe  that  the  African 
slave  trade  has  been  the  disgrace  of  the  civilized  world. 
We  believe  that  the  Dutch  and  English  African  slave 
traders,  as  well  as  the  Spanish  and  Portuguese,  were  vile 
covetous  wretches,  deeply  dyed  in  crime.  And  yet  we 
also  believe  God,  who  can  bring  a  clean  out  of  an^unclean 
thing,  has  so  ordered  it,  that  the  African  race  in  America, 
both  North  and  South,  do  thereby  enjoy  more  privileges, 
have  more  privileges,  possess  more  knowledge,  and  are 
far  more  exalted  in  their  condition,  than  their  ancestors 
ever  conceived  of.  Yes  !  these  their  posterity,  have  been 
saved  from  a  state  of  existence  wherein  human  nature 
was  sunk  to  a  degree  so  low,  that  it  was  hardly  superior 
to  the  ouran  outang,  or  man  of  the  woods.  A  condition 
where  cruelty,  superstitions,  and  all  manner  of  abomina 
ble  uncleanness,  composed  the  elements  of  what  little 
education  they  possessed.  We  have  no  doubt  but  that 
the  condition  of  the  veriest  slave  in  this  country,  is  far 
superior  both  in  comforts  and  attainments,  to  any  African 
chief  now  living  in  western  Africa.  In  the  order  of  Divine 


71 

Providence,  therefore,  it  would  seem,  both  from  Scripture 
and  reason,  that  a  state  of  servitude  may  become  a  very 
natural  and  proper,  or  necessary  condition,  to  those  who 
are  already  enslaved. 

But  from  all  this  it  will  not  follow  that  we  are  not  to 
discharge  our  relative  duties  to  slaves,  nor  seek  by  the 
enlightenment  of  the  gospel,  and  the  pious  examples  of 
our  lives,  to  teach  them  the  way  to  eternal  life  ;  nor  does 
it  follow,  therefore,  that  nothing  is  to  be  done  for  their 
deliverance  from  this  state  of  degradation.  They  may 
neither  feel  its  value,  make  that  demand,  or  anticipate  its 
benefit,  and  yet  all  this  does  not  destroy  our  obligations 
to  them.  To  neglect  such  a  wholesome  provision  in  every 
slave  holding  state,  would  be  to  defeat  the  ends  of  Pro 
vidence,  in  their  translation  to  this  portion  of  our  earth. 
But  it  must  be  recollected  that  the  slave  holding  states, 
not  being  culpable  for  the  introduction  of  slavery  into 
their  portion  of  the  continent,  as  some  are  wont  to  think 
they  are,  and  as  others  whom  they  could  not  control,  have 
forced  slavery  on  them,  they  must  themselves  select  the 
means  and  the  time,  when  they  may  be  relieved  of  them, 
and  especially  so,  as  they  were  forced  to  buy  for  every 
hundred  acres  of  land,  at  least  four  slaves,  and  thus 
forego,  in  their  ancestry,  the  right  and  privilege  of  mak 
ing  acquisitions  in  other  than  slave  property.  Some  of 
the  fathers  of  Virginia  saw  and  felt  this  obligation,  and 
laid  the  foundation  for  discharging  it.  An  effort  was  made 
which  terminated  in  the  formation  of  a  Colonization  So 
ciety,  by  which  civilization  and  religion  are  now  carried 
back,  a  generous  return,  to  Africa;  and  the  day  is  not 
distant,  when  commerce  and  trade  shall  be  carried  on 
between  America  and  the  land  of  Ham,  when  that  vast 
continental  wilderness,  so  long  a  "solitary  place,"  shall 
"blossom  as  a  rose,"  and  the  great  desert  of  Sahara  itself 
"shall  rejoice  and  become  glad." 


PART      III. 


THE  RIGHT  OF  PROPERTY  IN  SLAVES  EXAMINED,  IN  CONNECTION 
WITH  SOME  OBSERVATIONS  UPON  THE  REMARKS  ON  THIS  SUB 
JECT,  BY  DOCTOR  CHANNING  AND  OTHERS.  A  RIGHT  TO  ALL 
OTHER  AS  WELL  AS  SLAVE  PROPERTY,  IS  ACQUIRED  ORIGI 
NALLY  EITHER  BY  CONQUEST  OR  PURCHASE.  THAT  THE 
RIGHT  TO  SLAVE  PROPERTY  IN  VIRGINIA  AND  THE  SOUTH,  IS 
THE  RESULT  OF  PURCHASE,  FOR  A  VALUABLE  CONSIDERATION 
IN  THE  FIRST  INSTANCE,  AND  THEN  BY  A  REGULAR  DESCENT 
OR  INHERITANCE  FROM  PROGENITORS.  THAT  AS  THIS  PUR 
CHASE  WAS  FORCED  ON  THEM,  THEIR  POSTERITY  OUGHT  NOT 
THEREFORE,  IN  JUSTICE,  TO  BE  CONSTRAINED  TO  YIELD  THE 
SAME,  PROCURED  AS  IT  WAS  FOR  AN  EQUIVALENT,  AND  PERMIT 
IT  TO  REMAIN  TO  THEIR  INJURY  AMONG  THEM,  OR  SACRIFICE 
IT  IN  ANY  WAY  TO  THE  DEMANDS  OF  THOSE  WHO  HAVE  NO 
RIGHT  TO  DICTATE  TO  THEM  ON  THIS  SUBJECT. 

IN  the  writings  of  doctor  Charming  we  find  a  lengthy 
chapter  on  property  in  man,  and  in  his  elaborate  remarks 
on  this,  as  on  other  abolition  texts,  even  a  superficial 
reader  may  easily  discover,  that  he  is,  as  once  before 
suggested,  a  man  of  theory,  dealing  in  abstracts  and  not 
a  practical  man.  That  he  views  the  world  not  in  con 
nexion  with  its  relations,  as  they  exist,  but  as  he  supposes 
it  ought  to  be,  or  would  be  in  a  state  of  Adamic  perfec 
tion.  Gravely  approaching  this  subject  he  declares  that 
this  claim  "of  property  in  a  human  being  is  altogether 
false  and  groundless.  No  such  right  of  man,  in  man  can 
exist,"  says  the  doctor.  "A  human  being  cannot  be  justly 
owned ;  to  hold  and  treat  him  as  property  is  to  inflict  a 
great  wrong,  to  incur  the  guilt  of  oppression,"  &c. 
Certainly  the  great  doctor  Channing  does  not  intend  to 
7* 


74 

contradict  and  violate  by  his  abstract  and  abstruse  reason 
ings,  the  positive  regulations  and  commands  of  the  Omni 
scient  God.  What  does  the  Almighty  say  ?  hear  it! 
"Moreover  of  the  children  of  the  strangers  that  do  so 
journ  among  you,  of  them  shall  ye  buy,  and  of  their 
families  that  are  with  you,  which  they  begat  in  your 
land,  and  they  shall  be  your  POSSESSION;  and  ye  shall 
take  them  for  an  inheritance  of  your  children  after  you, 
to  inherit  them  for  a  POSSESSION.  THEY  SHALL  BE 

YOUR      BONDMEN      FOREVER."       Lev.    XXV,    45,    46.       Yea 

more,  it  will  be  found,  and  this  is  a  matter  to  which  we 
have  barely  alluded,  without  a  quotation  before,  that  a 
possession  might  be  had  or  held  by  an  Israelite  in  his 
brother  or  fellow-citizen,  and  that,  in  such  a  way,  as  that 
he  might  take  his  life,  so  that  he  lived  but  a  day,  without 
impunity,  because  of  his  right  of  property  in  him,  and 
that  from  the  power  of  self-interest,  it  was  to  be  presumed 
that  he  would  not  injure  him  to  subvert  his  own  in 
come.  But  let  us  hear  the  law  of  God :  "If  thou  buy 
an  Hebrew  servant,  six  years  shall  he  serve,  and  in  the 
seventh  he  shall  go  free  for  nothing.  If  his  master  have 
given  a  wife  and  she  have  borne  him  sons  or  daughters, 
the  wife  and  her  children,  shall  be  her  masters"  (property 
or  possession)  "and  he  shall  go  out  by  himself.  And  if 
the  servant"  (slave)  "shall  plainly  say,  I  love  my  master, 
rny  wife  and  my  children,  I  will  not  go  out  free.  Then 
his  master  shall  bring  him  unto  the  judges,  he  shall  also 
bring  him  unto  the  door,  or  unto  the  door-post  and  his 
master  shall  bore  his  ear  through,  with  an  awl,  and  he 
shall  serve  him  FOREVER."  Is  there  no  possession  net  pro 
perty  in  all  this?  Aye  more  still!  This  servant,  a  He 
brew,  belonging  to  his  Hebrew  master,  belonging,  we  say 
as  his  property  too  "forever,"  was  in  his  master's  hands 
to  do  with  him  as  he  pleased,  even  to  injure  him,  so  that 
he  lived  one  day  after  that  injury.  Read  it!  "And  if  a 
man  smite  his  servant  or  his  maid  with  a  rod,  and  he  die 
under  his  hand  he  shall  surely  be  punished,  notwithstand 
ing  if  he  continue  a  day  or  two,  he  shall  not  be  punished  ; 
for  he,"  (the  slave,)  "is  his  master's  money,"  (i.  e.)  his 
property. 

A  beautiful  slave  taken  as  a  captive  and  made  a  wife, 


75 

in  whom  the  master  did  not  afterwards  delight,  could  not 
be  sold  at  all,  as  the  master  had  humbled  her.  A  He 
brew  slave,  male  or  female,  could  not  be  sold  out  of  his 
country,  but  in  every  other  respect,  by  the  command  of 
God,  his  people,  had  a  right  of  property  in  slaves,  as 
an  inheritance,  and  were  to  be  transferred  like  other  pro 
perty,  to  their  children,  see  Exodus  xxi,  2,  4,  5,  6  verses, 
also'20,  21  verses  of  same  chap,  and  ch.  21  of  Deut.  en 
tire.  The  examples  of  practice  under  this  law,  in  the 
Old  Testament,  are  so  numerous,  that  it  would  be  an 
insult  to  the  intelligence  of  our  readers,  to  attempt  a 
quotation  of  them.  We  have  already  named  various 
cases  illustrative  of  these  laws,  and  will  simply  allude 
to  that  of  Job,  "a  perfect  and  upright  man,"  "one  that 
feared  God  and  eschewed  evil,"  who  had  "a  very  great 
household"  besides  a  wife,  seven  sons  and  three  daugh 
ters,  "servants"  (slaves)  whom  the  "Chaldeans  came  and 
slew  with  the  edge  of  a  sword."  And  after  his  loss  and 
affliction  God  gave  him  double  the  number.  The  case 
of  Philemon  and  Onesimus  already  alluded  to  by  us,  is  a 
most  conspicuous  illustration  of  the  scriptural  warrant,  of 
right  of  property  in  slaves.  What  did  the  apostle?  Did 
he  tell  Onesimus,  Philemon  is  "a  kidnapper,"  "a  man 
stealer,"  a  "pirate,"  yea,  uworse  than  a  pirate  or  mur 
derer,"  as  modern  abolitionists  speak  of  slave  holders? 
No !  no !  Did  the  young  Timothy  who  united  with  the 
apostle  in  this  letter  to  Philemon,  and  who  often  acted  as 
the  amanuensis  or  scribe,  to  that  great  man,  denounce 
the  unjust  slave  holder,  Philemon?  O  NO  !  NO!  What 
then  ?  these  good  men  had  heard  of  the  "love  and  faith" 
of  the  excellent  Philemon,  "toward  the  Lord  Jesus"  their 
Master,  "and  toward  all  saints,"  though  he  was  a  slave 
holder,  and  therefore  naturally  presumed  that  he  (Phile 
mon)  would  receive  back,  and  treat  with  kindness,  his 
"servant"  (slave)  "Onesimus,"  who,  had  runaway  from 
him,  and  remained  concealed  in  the  large  City  of  Rome, 
until  his  conversion.  He  does  not  write  to  Philemon, 
Onesimus  is  now  converted,  you  must  free  him;  to  the 
contrary,  "I  would  have  retained  him  with  me  that  he 
might  have  ministered"  (served)  "me",  but  without  thy 
mind"  (consent,  will)  "I  would  do  nothing."  "I  beseech 


76 

thee  for  him"  Onesimus,  "whom  I  have  sent  again"  home 
to  his  master.  He  was,  "in  times  past  unto  thee  an  un 
profitable  servant,"  (slave)  but  now  will  be  "profitable 
to  thee"  as  he  has  been  "to  me."  "Receive  him  as  my 
self."  Do  not  deal  hardly  with  him,  do  not  correct  him. 
I  myself,  Paul,  the  aged,  a  prisoner  for  Christ,  am  so 
deeply  convinced  that  Christianity  does  not  interfere  with 
your  right  of  property,  in  your  slave  Onesimus,  that  I 
send  him  home,  and  will  be  his  security,  and  as  he  has 
doubtless  injured  you  by  absconding  from  his  lawful 
owner  and  master,  put,  the  damages  to  my  account.  I 
have  written  this  with  my  own  hand,  this  is  my  note  or 
obligation,  "I  will  repay  it."  And  what  an  exalted  illus 
tration  have  we  here,  of  the  power  of  Christianity  in  lead 
ing  men,  when  truly  converted  to  God,  to  do  their  duty. 
Onesimus  changed  from  the  error  of  his  ways,  instead  of 
remaining  a  runaway  slave,  at  Rome,  freed  from  his 
master  and  all  obligations  to  him,  according  to  doctor 
Channing's  theory  about  "property  in  man,"  is  ready  to 
go  home  at  once.  He  loves  Paul  and  Timothy,  and 
Rome,  and  those  instrumental  in  his  conversion,  but  duty 
calls  him  home  to  his  master.  He  goes,  although  it  gives 
him  pain  to  leave  his  spiritual  father,  the  poor  little,  old, 
bald-headed  Christian  minister,  in  prison,  to  whom  he 
might  be  useful  by  remaining  and  ministering  as  a  servant, 
whom  Paul  was  ready  to  exalt  as  a  son.  Yet  he  takes 
a  letter  from  this  old  minister  and  goes  off,  himself  the 
bearer,  "written  from  Rome  to  Philemon  by  Onesimus,  a 
servant"  (slave).  Why  does  he  go?  Do  let  the  intelli 
gent  and  pious  reader  answer?  Why  does  he  go  home 
to  become  a  slave  voluntarily,  '-'when  there  is  no  power 
in  heaven  or  earth  that  can  morally  constrain  an  act 
which  is  such  a  flagrant  violation,"  as  abolitionists  say, 
"of  all  his  rights  ?" — Aye,  as  doctor  Charming  says,  c'a 
cruel  usurpation"  ''hardly  to  be  reached  by  any  reason 
ing!"  Let  us  answer,  sirs.  He  goes  home  to  discharge 
his  duty  to  him,  who,  in  the  order  of  Providence,  was  his 
lawful  master,  in  obedience  to  the  precepts  of  his  God, 
"servants  be  obedient  to  them  which  are  your  masters," 
as  taught  by  this  same  Paul,  the  aged.  And  whose  decla 
ration,  illustrative  of  our  duty,  is,  "Art  thou  called"  (con- 


77 

verted,  made  a  Christian,)  "being  a  servant,"  (slave,)  <{care 
not  for  it."  "Let  every  man  abide  in  the  same  calling 
wherein  he  was  called." 

Now  we  do  most  conscientiously  believe,  that  if  ever 
there  was  an  example,  which  displayed  the  true  power 
and  purity  of  Christianity,  both  as  to  intention  and  prac 
tice,  it  is  that  one  now  before  us,  in  which  Paul,  Phile 
mon,  and  Onesimus  are  the  actors.  Look  at  it  Christian 
or  infidel  reader.  Look  at  it  again!  Philemon  is  the 
master,  and  has  the  right  of  property  according  to  the 
laws  of  God  and  man,  in  his  slave  Onesimus.  This  slave 
runs  away,  and  knowing  that  there  would  be  less  pro 
bability  of  apprehension  in  a  large  city,  the  metropolis  of 
a  vast  empire,  where  were  gathered  strangers  from  all 
the  world,  he  flies  thither.  1.  There  the  prisoner  Paul, 
a  Christian  minister,  is  preaching  and  teaching  the  Lord 
Jesus  and  his  religion,  the  runaway  slave  Onesimus  hears 
him.  and  turns  to  the  living  God.  What  is  now  to  be 
done?  How  does  he  prove  the  sincerity  and  truth  of  his 
faith  and  religion?  He  kindly  administers  to  St.  Paul  in 
his  afflictions  and  imprisonment.  2.  He  makes  a  frank 
confession  of  his  true  character.  He  tells  them  he  is  a 
runaway.  He  tells  St.  Paul  that  Philemon  is  his  owner, 
and  doubtless  asks  him  what  he  shall  do;  promising  will 
ingly  to  obey  and  do  what  is  his  duty.  What  a  display 
of  the  power  of  divine  grace  is  this?  3.  St.  Paul  does 
not  consult  his  own  interest  and  comfort,  which  might  be 
promoted  by  the  continuance  of  Onesimus  at  Rome.  He 
knows  that  God's  moral  law  is  not  abrogated  by  Christ ; 
that  according  to  that  law,  one  man  might  hold  a  right 
of  property  in  another,  and  that  Philemon  owned  Onesi 
mus,  and  was  the  loser  of  his  time  and  labor.  What 
does  he  do?  He  sends  him  home  at  once;  becomes 
surety,  as  a  good  man,  for  him,  and  as  a  Christian  min 
ister,  enforces  forbearance  and  forgiveness  on  the  master, 
toward  his  formerly  profligate  slave.  4.  But  look  again  at 
the  powerful,  the  wonderous  influence  of  religion!  Onesi 
mus,  the  slave,  takes  Paul's  letter,  virtually,  (according  to 
the  Roman  law,)  also  a  law  of  the  Southern  States,  so 
much  laughed  at  and  denounced  by  abolitionists,  a  pass 
to  go  unmolested  to  his  master.  He  does  it  voluntarily; 


78 

he  might  have  run  oft'  again.  He  did  not ;  and  here  is 
another  evidence,  a  striking  one  too,  which  we  have,  in 
the  existence  of  that  epistle  to  Philemon,  at  this  day,  one 
of  the  most  glorious  monuments  that  Christianity  inter 
meddles  with  the  rights  and  privileges  of  no  man,  that  it 
enforces  the  relative  duties  of  life,  alike  on  all,  and  that 
it  induces  every  man  to  do  his  duty,  however  irksome 
and  oppressive,  bearing  in  mind  that  "godliness  with  con 
tentment  is  great  gain,"  "having  the  promise  of  the  life 
that  now  is,  and  of  that  which  is  to  come." 

In  all  this  we  see  that  the  Bible  and  its  ministers  may 
be  safely  admitted  into  any  land,  subject  to  any  govern 
ment,  it  being  only  designed  to  make  all  men  do  their 
duty.  Believing,  as  we  do,  that  there  are  but  few  greater 
displays  of  the  purity,  justice,  power  and  support  of  the 
Christian  religion,  than  this  very  case  of  Onesimus  and 
his  master,  we  recommend  it  to  the  consideration  of  those 
who  are  circulating  inflammatory  tracts,  stealing  away 
slaves  from  their  masters  and  homes,  hiding  runaway 
slaves  instead  of  sending  them  home,  as  did  St.  Paul,  tc 
their  masters,  and  doing  all  in  their  power  to  subvert  a 
part  of  the  institutions  of  our  country:  institutions  fixed 
on  us  against  our  wills  in  the  commencement,  and  insti 
tutions  acknowledged  and  sanctioned,  as  we  see,  by  our 
fathers,  patriots,  and  philanthropists,  brave,  humane  and 
honest  as  ever  lived,  in  that  constitution,  and  those  laws 
forming  and  binding  in  solemn  compact  and  union,  THESE 
STATES.  We  refer,  too,  our  Christian  ministers  to  the 
example  of  St.  Paul,  and  shall  believe  that  they  are  sin 
cere,  and  their  Christianity  has  a  divine  power  among 
them,  as  in  Old  Rome,  when  it  induces  them,  instead  oj 
concealing  the  runaway  slave,  to  send  him  home  to  his 
master,  become  his  surety,  that  he  perform  his  duty,  and 
when  that  slave  shall  follow  the  pious  example  of  the 
slave  Onesimus,  return  to  his  master,  and  let  him  hand 
down  to  posterity,  as  the  honor  of  Christianity,  such  a 
letter,  the  pass  of  the  slave  to  return  unmolested  to  his 
home  and  the  performance  of  his  duty. 

We  know  that  the  men  whose  conduct  is  so  dissimilar 
to  that  of  St.  Paul,  will  raise  a  dust  about  a  "man's  own 
ing  or  having  property  in  man,"  and  denounce  us  as  a 


79 

part  of  the  "black-hearted  tribe,"  who  are  worse  than 
"pirates  and  murderers."  About  this  we  are  not  anxious. 
Our  craft  is  not  in  danger.  We  never  have  been,  are  not 
now,  and  never  expect  to  be  a  slave  holder.  Alas!  alas! 
we  are  sorry  to  find  Dr.  Charming  himself  in  such  bad 
company  as  that  of  abolitionists.  Gentle  reader,  hear  for 
yourself,  at  his  own  lips,  his  own  opinions.  "No  legisla 
tion,  not  that  of  all  countries  or  worlds,  could  make  him" 
(the  slave)  "property."  Let  this  be  laid  down  as  a  first 
fundamental  truth.  Let  us  hold  it  fast  as  a  most  sacred, 
precious  truth.  Let  us  (abolitionists)  hold  it  fast  against 
all  customs,  all  laws,  all  rank,  wealth  and  power.  Let 
it  be  armed  with  the  whole  authority  of  the  civilized 
Christian  world."  Also  again,  "The  man,  who  on  hear 
ing  the  claim  to  property  in  man,  does  not  see  and  feel 
distinctly  that  it  is  a  cruel  usurpation,  is  hardly  to  be 
reached  by  reasoning."  Is  not  this  plainly  Dr.  Chan- 
ning  and  his  abolition  friends,  against  St.  Paul.  He 
swells  about  "property  in  man."  St.  Paul  comes  out  and 
tells  Philemon  plainly  that  he  sends  his  servant  home  to 
do  his  duty,  that  he  might  "receive"  (possess,  own)  "him 
FOREVER."  We  believe  that  the  scriptural  argument  is 
so  clear,  and  that,  it  points  out  to  every  Christian,  so 
plainly,  his  duty,  admitting  of  now,  under  the  gospel  dis 
pensation,  as  it  has  ever  done  property  in  man,  that  one 
would  suppose,  all  that  Dr.  Channing  has  written  on  this 
subject  was  actually  penned  by  him,  barely  to  expose  the 
ingenuity  and  power  of  his  own  vast  intellect  And  yet 
there  is  a  plain,  common  sense  view  of  this  arid  every 
other  subject,  which,  when  taken  by  the  man,  who  sim 
ply  looks  at  things,  as  they  actually  exist,  in  connection 
with  God's  revealed  will  concerning  them,  that  he  will 
arrive  at  conclusions  so  reasonable  and  just,  and  in  such 
correspondence  with  the  word  or  revelation  of  his  hea 
venly  Father,  that  one  will  be  surprised  to  see  how  the 
wisdom  of  the  wise  is  brought  to  naught,  and  the  philo 
sopher  himself  is  struck  dumb.  "Truth  is  almighty,  and 
must  prevail."  Men  may  speculate,  and  continue  to  Ho 
so,  until  they  hesitate  not  one  moment  to  contradict  the 
positive  assertions  and  commandments  of  ''Him  who 
seeth  not  as  man  seeth." 


80 

May  we  detain  the  reader  awhile  longer  on  this  sub 
ject  of  "property  in  man,"  or  rather  the  right  to  own  and 
hold  slaves  as  property  under  certain  circumstances. 
Our  right  to  any  property,  real  or  personal,  may  be 
traced,  so  far  at  least  as  we  are  collectively  concerned, 
either  to  conquest  or  purchase.  It  has  been  supposed 
that  nine-tenths  at  least  of  all  the  property  in  the  world, 
as  far  as  the  ground  of  right  is  concerned,  must  run  back 
to  conquest.  Among  nations  that  are  civilized,  and  gov 
erned  by  laws,  it  is  generally  admitted,  that  however 
property  may  have  been  acquired,  after  a  certain  period 
the  title  to  that  property  cannot  be  invalidated.  And 
again,  a  right  may  be  granted  by  certain  legal  provisions, 
having  an  existence  in  all  countries,  where  laws  at  all 
exist,  for  the  security  of  titles  to  property,  either  personal 
or  real.  Conquest  has  almost  always  changed  the  title 
to  property  in  any  country.  Europe  was  once  subject 
to  savages  or  barbarians,  whose  right  to  territory,  &c., 
passed  into  the  hands  of  their  conquerors,  but  little  more 
civilized  than  themselves.  Several  times  has  the  greater 
portion  of  the  property  of  Great  Britain  passed  into  the 
hands  of  their  conquerors,  and  even  now,  the  tenure  by 
which  it  is  held,  is  wholly  the  result  of  rapine.  Those 
who  now  own  it,  recur  only  to  William  the  Norrnan, 
from  whom  they  derived  a  right  to  present  possession. 
This  is  indeed  the  case  with  our  own  country.  In  very 
many  instances  it  is  true,  that  we  hold  our  possessions  as 
the  result  of  purchase  from  the  Indian  aborigines  of  the 
country,  but  mostly  by  conquest,  and  that  sometimes  un 
der  circumstances  greatly  to  be  lamented  and  abhorred. 
But  yet  no  man,  no  nation  questions  our  right  to  all  the 
territory  of  the  United  States,  however  the  title  may  have 
been  acquired.  The  peaceable  possession  for  so  many 
years,  has  virtually  extinguished  the  claims  of  all  others, 
and  constitutes  us,  the  independent  owners  of  the  soil, 
and  all  the  advantages,  therewith  connected.  And  not 
withstanding  the  original  title  may  not  have  been  actual 
ly  valid  or  righteous,  and  although  one  nation  may  fix 
one  period,  and  another  nation  another,  still  there  must, 
at  le«rist  among  civilized  nations,  be  some  limitation  to  the 
claims  of  former  owners ;  without  this,  there  would  be 
no  actual  value  to  any  property. 


81 

To  this  law  regularly  passed,  or  custom,  for  custom  is 
law,  must  be  traced  the  right  to  any  property,  and  not  to 
any  of  the  numerous  abstract  principles  of  religion,  which 
many  and  especially  modern  abolitionists  would  lay  down. 
This  is  still  more  apparent  if  we  consider,  that  laws 
which  are  human  and  liable  often  to  great  inconvenience 
to  some,  are  also  in  many  instances  the  occasion  of  some 
injustice,  and  doubtless  will  be  so,  whilst  man  and  his 
intellect  are  both  alike  imperfect.  But  "by  placing  the 
sanction  of  right  on  the  ground  of  possession,  the  law 
does  not  intend  to  justify  any  person  in  retaining  a 
property  acquired  by  fraud,  and  which  the  inheritor 
knows  was  thus  acquired.  The  moral  obligation  remains 
the  same,  until  after  the  expiration  of  the  prescribed  pe 
riod,  when  the  fraudulent  possession  must  be  left  to  his 
own  conscience,  and  the  justice  of  heaven.  But,  however 
property  may  have  been  originally  acquired,  if  I  or  my 
father,  grand  father,  or  ancestry,  came  by  that  property 
for  what  was  esteemed  a  valuable  consideration,  then  and 
in  that  case,  the  title  to  me  is  not  only  legally,  but  equi 
tably  good — in  other  words  morally  good — good  in  con 
science.  Suppose  for  instance,  that  A  forced  an  Indian 
fro-m  his  hunting  ground,  fenced,  cultivated  and  improved 
it  to  a  farm.  He  afterward  disposed  of  it  to  B,  who  sold 
it  to  C,  and  so  it  passed  on  to  D,  and  E,  and  F.  At  last 
one  says  that  F's  title  is  not  legal,  but  upon  examination 
it  is  found  to-  have  an  existence  for  so  many  years,  that 
all  other  claims  are  barred  by  the  statute  of  limitation. 
But  then  a  question  may  arise  as  to  the  morality  in  the 
title,  when  behold,  on  an  examination  it  is  also  found  that 
the  ancestors  of  F  paid  for  it  a  valuable  consideration, 
and  beside,  had  it  forced  on  "them.  .Would  it  not  be  im 
moral  to  deprive  them  of  their  right,  their  property — 
inherited  in  a  regular  way?  Look  at  this  very  case  as 
applied  to  slavery.  1.  All  the  earth  by  their  laws,  have 
acknowledged  "the  right  of  property  in  man,"  and  we 
have  seen  that  slavery  has  been  one  of  the  institutions  of 
every  country,  without  date.  2.  The  Africans  have  been 
always,  at  least  four-fifths  of  them,  in  a  state  of  bondage. 
This  we  have  already  seen,  and  shall  prove  it  more  plainly 
hereafter.  Some  of  these  African  slaves,  slaves  by  birth, 
8 


82 

slaves  bought  with  money,  or  slaves  being  captives  in 
war,  savage  men,  knowing  nothing  of  an  exchange  of 
prisoners,  much  less  an  emancipation  from  the  slavery 
consequent  on  capture.  3.  Of  these  slaves,  many  were 
sold  to  slavers,  and  the  title  to  them  it  is  allowed,  was 
not  morally  valid  ;  but  they  bring  them  into  the  American 
ports.  What  next?  Every  man  who  was  an  owner  of 
land  was  also  forced  to  buy  at  least  four  slaves  for  every 
hundred  acres  of  land  owned  by  him.  The  colonists 
protest  against  it.  It  is  still  forced  on  them,  and  as  we 
shall  show,  although  resisted  constantly  until  1776,  the 
very  year  of  the  declaration  of  independence,  when  that 
protest  is  pui  into  that  celebrated  instrument — it  is  still  per 
sisted  in  until  they  have  quartered  on  them,  and  on  their 
lands,  not  conquered  lands,  but  lands  bought  of  the  Bri 
tish  government  or  their  representatives,  the  proprietaries 
or  manor  lords,  thousands,  hundreds  of  thousands  of  Afri 
can  slaves,  professedly  to  keep  them  in  awe,  to  augment 
the  revenue  of  the  English  crown,  a  partner  in  the  Afri 
can  and  South  Sea  Companies  or  monopolies,  unjustly 
gotten  up  to  sustain  the  mother  country,  at  the  expense 
of  the  colonists. 

So  soon  as  these  colonists  could  legislate  for  them 
selves,  they  did  so,  and^et  their  faces  against  that  trade. 
They  resisted  the  tyranny  of  England,  they  fought,  they 
bled,  they  conquered  by  their  bravery — they  bought  their 
liberty  and  redeemed  their  country  from  tyrant  England, 
at  the  expense  and  hazard  of  life,  and  all  that  to  them 
was  dear.  The  deed  is  done,  and  now,  whilst  trying  to 
train  the  colored  race  for  civilized  life,  a  race  originally 
savage,  in  bondage  the  most  abject,"in  pollutions  of  every 
kind  overwhelmed,  forced  upon  them,  at  their  own  pro 
per  expense,  a  race  whom  already  they  have  improved  a 
thousand  fold,  and  whom  they,  according  to  the  advice 
of  their  fathers,  Washington,  Jefferson,  Madison  and 
others,  are  gradually  sending  out  full  by  colonization,  to 
Africa,  the  fatherland,  to  civilize  and  save  it:  Hear, 
let  the  heavens  blush  at  such  a  requisition,  hear  it !  We 
say  hear  it !  They  are  required  to  tun?  them  loose,  now, 
all  at  once,  hardly  half  civilized,  on  the  bosom  of  society. 
To  pf've  them  the  country  which  they  and  their  fathers 


83 

fought  for,  and  rescued  from  British  tyranny,  and  raise 
these  slaves  to  all  the  rights  and  privileges  of  free  born 
citizens,  political  as  well  as  other.  This  is  the  demand 
of  abolitionists,  this  is  virtually  the  demand  of  the  great 
doctor  Channing,  the  DEFENDED  of  ABOLITIONISM.  In 
other  words,  give  your  servants  your  houses  and  homes 
for  a  dwelling,  your  sons  and  daughters  as  husbands  and 
wives,  your  privileges,  liberties  and  your  country,  at  the* 
call  of  northern  and  eastern  and  western  fanatics.  This 
is.  the  demand,  this- the  bitter  pill,  however  it  maybe 
sweetenect. 

All  who  study  the  morality  of  the  Scriptures  will  at 
once  see,  that  in  the  commission  of  any  act  which  we 
denominate  a  crime  or  sin,  there  must  ever  be  present 
numerous  essential  circumstances,  to  constitute  it  such. 
If  these  be  present,  there  can  be  none  others  by  which 
its  true  nature  or  character  can  be  changed  ;  but  without 
these,  sin  cannot  be  admitted  in  any  one  case.  And 
according  to  the  Scriptures,  although  there  may  be  a 
violation  of  the  letter  of  a  commandment,  even  when 
there  is  an  express  statute,  if  there  be  no  violation  of  its 
spirit,  the  commandment  is  not  broken,  and  vice  versa, 
where  the  spirit  of  a  commandment  is  violated,  there  is 
transgression.  This  virtually  includes  all  the  essential 
circumstances  which  constitute  it  a  sin,  and  necessarily 
too  includes  also,  the  letter  of  the  commandment,  even 
when  the  act  is  not  consummated.  On  this  account  our 
Lord  said — "He  that  looketh  on  a  woman  to  lust  after 
her,  hath  committed  adultery  already  with  her,  in  his 
heart."  "He  that  is  angry  with  his  brother  without  a 
cause  is  a  murderer."  In  other  words  it  is  the  violation  of 
the  spirit  of  a  statute,  which  is  a  sin. 

Now  if  we  look  at  the  subject  of  property  in  man  as 
set  forth  in  the  Bible,  according  to  this  rule  laid  down  by 
our  Lord,  it  will  appear,  we  think,  that  it  is  perfectly 
compatible  with  every  principle  of  right,  even  although 
there  never  had  been  a  command,  or  a  scripture  example 
for  it.  We  have  seen  that  slavery  in  some  form  has  always 
existed,  and  that  this  "property  in  man"  has  been  acknow 
ledged  from  the  patriarchal  days  and  before,  to  this  very 
time.  Moreover  God  has  not  only  in  his  wisdom  allowed  itf 


84 

but  has  legislated  on  the  subject,  so  as  to  perpetuate  sla 
very,  even  among  his  peculiar  and  favored  people,  the 
Jews  and  Israelites,  only  authorizing  an  emancipation  at 
all,  in  the  case  of  an  Israelite,  conditionally  a  servant, 
but  not  allowing  his  wife  or  children  to  be  free  unless 
bought  or  procured  by  him,  independently  of  the  master. 
We  have  also  seen  that  the  precepts,  exhortations,  and 
dehortations  of  both  the  Old  and  New  Testaments  are 
alike  addressed  to  masters -and  slaves,  and  that  this  rela 
tion  is  fully  acknowledged  in  God's  word,  and  in  no  one 
part  of  it  disturbed.  Thus,  all  the  rights  of  eve'ry  master 
or  owner  of  slaves  in  his  property,  is  protected  in  God's 
law,  so  that  whilst  the  right  of  property  in  the  slave  is 
acknowledged  on  the  one  hand,  the  means  of  protecting 
him  in  his  right,  by  enforcing  obedience  the  most  univer 
sal  and  faithful  on  the  slave,  are  one  the  other  hand,  clearly 
pointed  out.  Not  only  so,  God  represents  it  as  a  viola 
tion  of  the  right  of  property,  in  any  man,  to  "covet  his 
neighbor's  man  servant  or  maid  servant,"  as  much  so  as 
to  covet  his  ox  or  his  ass,  or  any  thing  that  is  thy  neigh 
bor's  "property."  If  this  be  not  the  true  meaning  as 
well  as  the  spirit  of  this  Bible  acknowledgment,  of  the 
right  of  property  in  slaves,  then  we  do  not  know  what  it 
means,  and  we  defy  any  man  otherwise  to  explain  it. 
We  again  say,  that  whilst  any  and  every  man,  influenced 
by  a  proper  moral  sense,  would  repel  as  iniquitous  all  the 
deception,  violence  and  distress  of  the  slave  trade,  and 
especially  so,  as  it  was  carried  on  by  Great  Britain,  yet, 
when  slaves  are  forced  on  us,  paid  for  by  us,  trained  and 
civilized,  fed,  protected  and  taught — distinct  in  every  re 
spect,  both  as  a  race  and  as  to  education,  from  us — ours 
by  purchase^  under  the  laws  of  free,  independent,  and 
sovereign  states,  whose  wise  policy  is  that  their  masters 
may  free  and  send  them  to  their  father  or  any  other  land, 
to  which  they  desire  to  go,  but  not  here.  Pray  tell  us 
where  is  the  iniquity  of  slave  holding,  under  such  circum 
stances  ?  We  say  slave  holding  not  slavery  in  the  abstract. 
Southern  men  hold  slaves,  they  have  descended  to  them 
s.s  a  part  of  their  paternal  property.  They  must  leave 
their  homes  or  retain- their  slaves.  They  are  where  they 
cannot  be  freed.  By  the  laws  of  God  and  man,  in  al 


85 

conscience,  they  hold  in  them  "the  right  of  property  "  and 
shall  they  be  denounced  as  transgressors  of  God's  law, 
as  "thieves,"  "robbers,"  "pirates,"  "murderers" — "yea, 
worse  than  pirates  and  murderers?"  "Under  these  cir 
cumstances  there  is  an  infringement  of  no  right,"  as  has 
been  justly  observed  by  Dr.  Reese  of  New  York,  "there 
are  circumstances  in  which  God  himself  has  recognized 
property  in  man,  and  cceteris  paribus,  he  does  so  now." 
And  if  there  be  an  individual  slave  holder  in  America 
or  elsewhere,  who  is  by  that  act  guilty  of  sin,  the  act 
itself  can  only  be  adjudicated  after  a  knowledge  of  the 
circumstances,  for  upon  these  the  morality  or  immorality 
of  the  act  must  depend.  That  there  have  been  or 
may  be  masters  who  furnish  conspicuous  examples,  in 
which  the  act  of  slave  holding  is  accompanied  by  cir 
cumstances  which  constitute  that  act,  "malum  per  se"  a 
sin  against  God  and  nature,  none  can  deny.  Southern 
men  do  not  deny  this — they  admit  it  frankly,  openly  and 
above  board.  But  what  is  gained  to  those  who  deny  the 
right  of  property  in  slaves,  by  this  admission?  They 
may  try  to  apply  the  cruelty  of  one  man,  a  dozen,  or  a 
hundred  to  all;  who  will  believe  them?  They  may 
falsely  represent  these  as  specimens  of  the  general  and 
universal  character  of  slaveholders,  and  they  had  as  well 
say,  because  one  man,  or  a  dozen  or  a  hundred  men  treat 
their  horses  ill,  therefore  all  starve  or  work  them  to  death. 
Because  there  are  a  hundred  drunkards  and  cheats  in  a 
city,  therefore  all  are  such,  or  because  some  professors 
of  religion  are  hypocrites,  therefore  all  are.  And  because 
there  are  a  thousand  incontinent  and  lewd  men  and  wo 
men,  therefore  all  men  and  women  are  such,  or  because 
some  from  the  north  have  come  southward  and  cheated 
the  people,  therefore  all  northerners  will,  if  they  can  get 
a  chance,  do  it.  What  think  you  generous  reader  of 
such  logic?  Now  we  declare  in  the  sight  of  heaven  and 
earth,  that  the  cases  of  cruel  and  bad  masters,  on  account 
of  public  opinion,  are  comparatively  rare,  because  it  is 
directly  against  it,  and  public  law,  which  protects  the 
slave.  We  know  that  Christian  ministers  and  men,  in 
the  South  do  denounce  cruel,  bad  masters,  in  unmeasured 
terms,  as  violating  God's  law,  in  cruelly  treating  their 
8* 


86 

slaves.  And  let  me  ask,  do  those  at  the  North  thus  de 
nounce  the  obscene  and  insolent  lewdness  in  the  treat 
ment,  of  poor  factory  girls,  by  some  of  the  owners,  agents, 
and  clerks  of  those  lordly  establishments,  or  that  of  the 
poor  children,  who  are  almost  buried  alive,  for  fourteen 
hours  out  of  every  twenty- four,  in  the  factories  for  ma 
nufacturing  cottons,  &c.,  to  speculate  on  in  southern 
markets,  among  those  very  slave  holders  whom  they 
denounce. 

We  confess  we  arc  not  surprised  to  hear  men,  who 
have  never  built  their  systems  on  the  Bible,  but.  on  a 
concatenation  of  abstract  moral  precepts  and  principles, 
without  reference  at  nil  to  circumstances,  exclaiming,  in 
alolition  language,  "the  act  of  holding  a  slave  is  sin," 
or  as  it  is  often  expressed  by  them,  to  claim  property  in 
'man,  under  any  circumstances,  is  sin.  We  are  not  sur 
prised  to  hear  them  denounce  slave  holders  as  "robbers," 
"pirates,"  "man-stealers,"  nor  to  hear  them  speak  of 
Southern  Christianity  as  a  "whip-plaiting,"  "chain-forg 
ing,  man-stealing  Christianity,"  and  the  "most  heinous  of 
all  sins  against  God."  We  are  not  surprised  to  find  an 
elaborate  treatise  by  such  an  abolition  metaphysician  as 
the  great  Dr.  ('banning,  on  the  right  of  property,  in  man, 
that  gives  us  a  plan  for  "forming  a  just  moral  judgment" 
without  any  reference  comparatively  to  providential  cir 
cumstances,  to  scriptural  law,  and  scriptural  example. 

The  intelligent  reader  will  not  wonder  at  such  extrava 
gancies,  when  he  considers  that  many  men  arc  impelled 
by  creeds  founded  on  their  own  collections  of  abstract 
principles  of  moral  right,  and  of  ownership  in  property. 
This  is  but  one  of  the  many  fruits  of  error.  Of  that  ra 
dical  error  which  lies  at  the  very  foundation  of  a  creed, 
that  hardly  ever  professes  to  be  built  on  the  Bible,  and 
that  has  its  origin  in  the  dogmas  of  its  leaders.  Hence 
such  fly  to  the  declaration  of  our  national  independence, 
and  by  a  flagrant  perversion  of  the  true  intent  and  mean 
ing  of  the  spirit  of  that  instrument,  as  well  as  the  lan 
guage  itself,  endeavor  to  persuade  and  delude  men  from 
the  Bible  and  its  instructions.  This  is  an  "ad  captandum" 
argument,  whose  authors  feign  not  to  remember  that  the 
signers  of  that  declaration  were  "SLAVE  HOLDERS,"  and 


87 

the  representatives  of  "slave  holding  states,"  who  com 
plained  that  the  mother  "country,  "a  slave  holding"  na 
tion,  had  among  other  grievances,  taken  away  the  slave 
property  from  our  citizens.  And  could  they  in  that  de 
claration  have  denied  "the  right  of  property  in  man,"  in 
the  face  of  their  own  true  condition,  and  that  of  their 
constituency?  Is  there  one  who  can  allow  such  a  per 
version  of  sentiment,  especially  if  it  be  recollected  that 
the  Constitution  of  these  United  States  makes  the  most 
distinct  recognition  of  "slave  holding"  as  one  of  the  re 
served  rights  of  the  states,  a  right  to  "property  in  man." 
This  is  not  all:  that  very  act  of  the  British  govern 
ment,  which  after  forty  years'  consideration  and  prepa 
ration  for  it,  by  those  called  the  first  philanthropists  of 
that  nation,  not  only  admits  all  that  Americans  can  ask, 
as  to  the  propriety  of  a  gradual,  and  almost  impercepti 
ble  emancipation  and  removal  of  the  blacks,  according 
to  Mr.  Jefferson's  plan;  but  behold!  it  acknowledges, 
with  Wilberforce,  Clarkson  and  others,  as  its  authors, 
the  right  of  "property  in  man,"  and  that  too,  to  its  utmost 
extent,  as  claimed  by  the  slave  owners  themselves.  It 
therefore  makes  a  provision  for  the  payment  of  so  many 
millions  to  them,  at  the  rate  of  so  much  per  head,  as 
compensation  and  pay  for  the  "SLAVE  PROPERTY"  to  their 
masters. 


PART    IV. 


THE  DUTIES  OP  THOSE  WHO  POSSESS  SLAVES,  TO  THEMSELVES  AND 
THEIR  SERVANTS,  IN  VIEW  OF  THE  PROVIDENTIAL  RELATION 
THAT  EXISTS  BETWEEN  THEM.  THAT  THESE  DUTIES  HAVE 
BEEN.  AND  NOW  ARE  BEING  PERFORMED  IN  VARIOUS  WAYS, 
NOTWITHSTANDING  THE  MISREPRESENTATIONS  OF  ABOLITION 
ISTS  RESPECTING  THE  CONDITION  OF  SLAVES.  THIS  FACT 
PROVED  BY  THE  PRESENT  MENTAL,  MORAL  AND  POLITICAL 
CONDITION  OF  THE  SLAVES,  IN  THE  SLAVE  HOLDING  STATES. 

IN  the  providence  of  Almighty  God,  against  the  will 
and  solemn  protestations  of  Virginia  and  the  South, 
slavery  has  been  entailed  on  them  and  their  posterity. 
It  virtually  become  interwoven  with  almost  all  their  ope 
rations,  and  in  fact  is  now  one  of  our  political  institutions. 
An  evil,  for  the  curing  of  which  we  must  do  the  best  that 
we  can.  We  cannot  charge  our  fathers  with  folly  re 
specting  this  matter.  They  resisted,  they  strove,  they 
fought  against  it,  as  long  as  resistance  was  of  any  avail. 
When  they  had  it  in  their  power  to  resist  successfully,  by 
prohibiting  the  slave  trade,  and  refusing  to  participate  in 
it.  it  was  too  late,  the  deed  was  done,  the  foundation  laid, 
the  colored  man  was  here,  and  his  posterity  was  spring 
ing  up  apace  in  the  land  of  his  master.  But  in  the  order 
of  Providence, -the  master  has  the  rule  over  him,  and  on 
this  master  it  devolves  to  discharge  his  duties,  so  as  to 
effect  the  happiness  of  the  negro,  the  comfort  and  peace 
of  his  own  soul,  the  honor  of  his  country,  and  the  glory 
of  his  God.  But  how  may  he  do  this?  How  ought  it 
to  be  done? 

Masters  and  mistresses  owe  it  to  their  own  souls  to  do 
their  duty  faithfully.  Self-interest  and  self-preservation 


90 

are  powerful  motives  to  human  action.  Man  is  a  crea 
ture  of  motive — he  cannot,  he  does  not,  and  his  God 
never  commands  him  to  act  without  motive.  The  first 
great  motive  to  us  to  perform  our  duty,  ought  to  be  the 
solemn  obligation  that  rests  upon  us,  as  the  creatures  of 
God,  to  obey  his  commandments.  Our  Sovereign,  our 
God  commands,  it  is  our  duty  to  obey.  1.  God  is  our 
lawful,  our  rightful  and  righteous  Sovereign.  2.  He  is 
our  kind,  our  benevolent  Father.  3.  He  is  our  firm  and 
unchanging  friend,  and  especially  has  he  endeared  him 
self  to  us,  in  a  national  as  well  as  in  an  individual  point 
of  view.  He  has  also  proclaimed  himself  our  kindest 
and  best  benefactor;  it  is  he  who  provides  for,  saves, 
supports  and  preserves  us,  physically,  morally,  and  poli 
tically,  from  all  harm  and  all  foes.  Well!  what  does  he 
command?  For  all  our  inferential  duties  must  be  traced 
back  to  some  positive  command  of  God.  Let  us  first 
remember  that  we  are  fallen  and  depraved,  naturally  ob 
stinate  and  rebellious  ourselves,  and  that  therefore  we 
ought  to  make  every  allowance  for  ignorant  and  unre- 
generate  slaves,  who  have  had  but  little  given  to  them, 
when  compared  to  what  we  ourselves  have  received.  In 
order  that  we  may  do  this,  let  us  not  shun  to  seek  and 
know  our  duty  to  God  our  sovereign,  ourselves,  and  our 
fellow  men.  Let  us,  in  order  that  we  may  discharge  it 
aright,  first  give  to  God  our  own  hearts,  our  whole,  our 
undivided  hearts,  that  we  may  love  him  supremely,  and 
that  his  love  may  rule  all  our  actions,  and  guide  and  di 
rect  us  in  all  our  intercourse.  When  this  is  the  case,  it 
will  ever  be  easy  to  attend  to  the  following  commands, 
which  are  recorded  in  the  sacred  scriptures,  for  the  regu 
lation  and  government  of  our  conduct:  "Ye  masters,  do 
the  same  things  unto  your  servants,  forbearing  threaten- 
ings,  knowing  that  your  master  is  also  in  heaven,  neither 
is  there  respect  of  persons  with  him."  "Accuse  not  a 
servant  to  his  master."  "Thou  shalt  not  rule  over  him 
with  rigor."  "Thou  shalt  riot  oppress  him."  "Thou 
shalt  he  'tender-hearted,'  pitiful,  and  very  kind."  Job, 
that  kind  master  and  perfect  and  upright  man,  that  fear 
ed  God  and  eschewed  evil,  says,  if  I  had  "despised  the 
cause  of  my  man-servant,  or  of  my  maid-servant,  when 


91 

they  contended  with  me,  what  could  I  have  done?" 
"When  God  riseth  up,  and,  when  he  visiteth,  what  shall 
I  answer  him?"  And  you  remember  the  kindness  and 
earnest  or  ardent  anxiety  of  the  Roman  centurion,  be 
seeching  Jesus  for  his  slave,  and  saying,  "Lord,  my  ser 
vant  lieth  home  sick  of  the  palsy,  grievously  tormented." 
Jesus  saith  to  him,  "I  will  come  and  heal  him.'!— ^he- 
centurion  said,  "Lord,  I  am  not  worthy  that  thou 
shouldst  come  under  my  roof:  but  speak  the  word  only, 
and  my  servant"  (slave)  "shall  be  healed;  for  I  am  a 
man  under  authority,  having  soldiers  under  me,  and  I 
say  to  this  man  go,  and  he  goeth,  and  to  another  come, 
and  he  cometh,  and  to  my  servant"  (slave)  "do  this,  and 
he  doeth  it."  When  Jesus  heard  it  he  marvelled,  and 
said  to  them  that  followed,  "Verily,  I  say  to  you,  I  have 
not  found  so  great  faith,  no,  not  in  Israel."  And  Jesus 
said  to  the  centurion,  "Go  thy  way,  and  as  thou  hast 
believed,  so  be  it  done  to  thee."  And  his  servant  was 
healed  in  the  self  same  hour. 

What,  is  it  possible  that  our  Lord  Jesus  will  hear  the 
prayer  of  a  slave  holder  ?  Aye,  more  that  he  will  go  to 
his  house,  heal  and  restore  (o  him  his  slave?  And  when 
he  said,  *'J  say  to  my  servant,"  (slave,)  "do  this  and  he  doeth 
it,"  never  reprove  him,  as  our  abolition  brethren  do,  as  a 
"man  stealer,"  "a  robber,"  "a  kidnapper*"  "a  rogue"  "a 
pirate."  Aye,  "worse  than  a  pirate  or  a  murderer  !" 
and  what  an  example  to  Christian,  believing,  "slave  hold 
ers"  to  care  and  pray  for  their  servants,  and  use  also 
every  means  to  have  them  restored  to  health!  Some 
abolitionists  would  say  that  this  was  all  for  his  own 
interest.  Well  be  it  so  !  Christ  approved  of  it,  marvelled 
at,  eulogized  his  faith,  healed  his  servant,  and  restored 
him  to  his  master,  for  his  master's  interest.  What  objec 
tion  can  there  be  to  all  this?  Our  religious  concern 
should  not  be  confined  to  ourselves.  A  good  man's  ser 
vants  may  not  only  be  sick,  but  may  be  sinners.  We 
are  to  go  to  our  Lord  Jesus,  and  use  prayer  and  all  the 
means  in  our  power  for  their  recovery.  We  are  not  to 
go  alone,  but  as  Jacob  did  call  on  our  "household," 
(slaves,)  and  all  that  are  with  us.  Each  must  prepare  and 
each  must  attend.  Of  that  Father  of  the  faithful,  Abra- 


92 

ham,  it  is  said,  "I  know  him  that  he  will  command  his  chil 
dren  and  his  household"  (slaves)  "after  him,  and  they  shall 
keep  the  way  of  the  Lord  to  do  justice  and  judgment,  that 
the  Lord  may  bring  upon  Abraham  that  which  he  hath 
spoken  of  him."  In  the  same  disposition,  was  Joshua, 
who  said,  "As  for  me  and  my  house  we  will  serve  the 
Lord."  Look  also  at  the  centurion,  "he  feared  God 
with  all  his  house." 

In  our  own  families  we  possess  both  influence  and 
authority,  a  father  has  honor,  a  master  has  fear.  Ser 
vants  like  children  are  almost  naturally  disposed  from 
their  condition  to  obey.  All  our  authority  and  influence 
ought  to  be  employed  for  religious  as  well  as  civil  and  do 
mestic  purposes,  and  we  ought  to  vary  the  exercise  of 
them  according  to  the  condition,  and  intellectual  attain 
ments  of  those,  who,  as  servants,  form  a  componeLt  part 
of  our  families.  Using  our  authority  by  commanding 
some,  persuasion  with  others,  and  gospel  means  with  all. 
Many  masters  try  only  to  take  care  of  the  bodies  of 
their  families.  To  answer  the  question,  what  shall  my 
servants  eat,  wherewithal  shall  they  be  clothed  ?  But 
as  heads  of  families  it  is  our  duty  to  mind  the  souls  of 
our  servants,  and  try  to  train  them  for  eternal  life,  they 
are  not  designed  to  live  only  in  this  world,  or  principally 
here,  they  are  "to  live,  as  well  as  ourselves,  in  eternity: 
we  shall  soon  be  called  to  "give  an  account  of  our  stew 
ardship,"  we  shall  be  judged  not  only  "as  individuals,  but 
as  the  owners  of  a  "household"  (slaves,)  arid  after  the 
servant  has  been  tried  the  master  will  be  called.  Ought 
we  not  daily  and  devoutly  to  pray  that  we  may  be  en 
abled  to  "give  our  account  with  joy  and  not  with  grief?" 
Jt  is  said  the  voice  of  salvation  and  rejoicing  is  in  the 
tabernacle  of  the  righteous."  Here  is  domestic  religion. 
Shall  it  be  so  with  us?  It  ought  to  be  so  ?  Such  families 
are  only  safe  and  happy.  How  delightful  to  see  all  the 
members  of  a  family,  servants,  masters,  mistresses,  chil 
dren,  worshipping  God  together  in  their  own  houses. 
How  lovely  to  observe  them  coming  forth  on  the  Sabbath 
morning  to  the  house  of  prayer,' as  a  company  to  wait  to- 
gaiher  on  the  same  Lord.  Ministers  are  encouraged; 
such  households  are  the  nurseries  of  the  churches.  Such 


93 

churches  inspire  into  the  soul  of  a  minister,  unspeakable 
pleasure,  he  views  them  as  hopeful  assemblies,  formed  by 
the  union  of  a  number  of  amiable  and  devout  masters,  and 
mistresses,  and  their  serious  and  orderly  children,  and 
servants.  Let  us  take  along  with  us  therefore  to  the 
same  place  of  worship,  our  servants,  as  far  as  practica 
ble,  and,  when  this  cannot  be  done,  see  that  they  go  and 
are  instructed  elsewhere.  Be  certain  of  their  attendance 
some  where,  and  that  they  are  not  suffered  to  wander  and 
violate  the  Sabbath. 

From  what  we  have  said,  and  the  injunctions  of  God's 
word,  we  learn  that  masters  are  not  to  assume  to  them 
selves  absolute  authority  over  their  servants,  as  both  they 
and  their  slaves  are  alike  under  one  master.  "And  ye 
masters  do  the  same  things,  forbearing  threatening,  know 
ing  that  your  master  is  also  in  heaven,  neither  is  there  re 
spect  of  person  with  him."  And  again  "masters  give  unto 
your  servants  (slaves)  what  is  just  and  equal,  knowing 
that  ye  also  have  a  master  in  heaven."  This  is  the 
apostolic  injunction,  and  from  it  we  learn,  that  we  should 
never  command  a  servant  to  do  what  is  above  his  strength 
or  beyond  his  ability.  In  commanding  them,  no  threat- 
enings  are  to  be  used,  in  rebuking  them  we  are  to  be 
moderate,  remembering  that  we  have  a  God  in  heaven, 
who  respects  alike  the  master  and  his  slave.  We  are  to 
bestow  such  rewards  for  their  labour  as  are  meet  and 
right  under  existing  circumstances.  We  are  to  take 
good  care  of  them  in  sickness  and  old  age,  and  above  all 
see  that  all  our  servants  and  their  children,  are  trained 
up  in  piety  and  the  service  of  the  living  God.  Thus 
when  in  the  providence  of  God,  slaves  are  cast  on.  us, 
these  rules  properly  carried  out,  will  greatly  tend  to 
ameliorate  and  better  their  mental  and  moral  condition. 
In  this  way  many  masters  and  mistresses  win  over  their 
slaves  to  the  Lord  Jesus,  and  train  them  on  earth  for 
eternal  life  beyond  the  grave.  Masters  and  mistresses 
should  be  especially  careful  that  they  are  not  excited  to 
treat  their  servants  ill,  because  of  the  persecution  and 
falsehoods  of  abolitionists.  Let  love  and  reason  and 
kindness  and  righteousness,  govern  all  your  movements, 

9 


94 

and  your  conduct  towards  your  slaves,  and  then  commit 
the  rest  to  God  who  seeth  and  doeth  right. 

It  is  thus  that  a  good  man  may  inspire  the  heart  of  the 
laborer  with  confidence  in  him,  and  with  peace,  comfort 
and  delight,  under  all  the  privations  and  ills  incident  to 
his  condition.  When  he  has  borne  the  burden  and  heat 
of  the  summer's  day,  or  has  endured  the  frosts  and  snow 
and  cold  of  one  in  winter,  in  discharging  faithfully  the 
duties  of  his  station ;  when  the  descending  sun  has  released 
him  from  his  toil,  and  he  is  about  to  hasten  home,  to  en 
joy  repose  in  his  cabin,  and  the  companion  of  his  humble 
life  is  ready  to  furnish  him  with  his  plain  but  wholesome 
repast;  have  you  not  seen  his  toil-worn  countenance 
assume  an  air  of  joy  as  he  hears  his  master's  evening  bell 
call  all  the  servants  to  the  drawing  room  to  family  prayers? 
All  is  cheerfulness.  His  hardships  and  cares  are  forgot, 
and  fatigue  vanishes.  He  hears  the  word  of  our  God 
read,  and  joins  with  his  wife,  his  children,  his  fellow-ser 
vants,  his  master,  mistress,  and  their  children  to  swell  the 
praise  of  his  God  in  solemn  song,  and  in  that  hymn  of 
praise  seeks  to  glorify  his  heavenly  Father.  With  them 
he  unites  in  fervent  prayer,  and  blesses  God,  that  care  is 
all  gone,  and  peace  and  joy  reign.  He  eats  and  is  satis 
fied.  The  evening  fair,  he  walks  with  uncovered  head 
around  his  little  garden,  gathers  some  of  its  luscious  fruits, 
partakes  thereof,  then  waters  and  feeds  his  fowls  and  pigs, 
enters  again  his  cottage  and  retires  to  rest.  "And  the 
rest  of  a  labouring  man  is  sweet  indeed."  Inhabitant  of 
that  lowly  dwelling,  an  upright,  good  and  faithful  servant, 
what  master  can  be  indifferent  to  thy  comfort  ?  Aye, 
thy  master  looks  and  says,  "peace  be  to  this  house  ;"  and 
Jesus  says  so  too. 

<cLet  not  ambition  mock  thy  useful  toil, 

Thy  homely  joys  arid  destiny  obscure  5 
Nor  grandeur  hear  with  a  disdainful  smile, 
The  short  and  simple  annals  of  the  poor." 

His  master  does  not  disdain  it,  far,  far  from  this,  and  such 
a  servant,  as  we  have  seen  and  known  a  hundred  times, 
is  his  master's  counsellor,  often  his  master's  chaplain,  and 


95 

like  Abraham's  servant,  his  master's  "steward."  Hear 
how  he  hails  the  rising  morn  and  sings : 

"The  morning  breaks,  the  sun  in  east  new  gilds  the  rising  day, 
The  lark  forsakes  her  downy  nest,  arise  my  soul  and  pray." 

As  the  sun  bursts  at  once  on  the  tower-like  mansion  of 
the  master,  and  cabins  or  cottages  of  the  servants,  they 
all  re-assemble  in  the  same  room,  and  read,  and  sing, 
and  pray.  This  done,  each  by  it,  is  quickened  to  dili 
gence  in  his  relative  duties,  and  each,  especially  the  good 
master,  knows  the  meaning  of  that  text,  "thou  shalt  know 
also  that  thy  tabernacle  shall  be  in  peace,  and  thou  shalt 
visit  thy  habitation  and  not  sin." 

Thus  let  every  master  and  mistress  and  their  "house 
holds,"  walk  with  "order,  good  temper,  good  sense,  and 
religious  principles."  "The  man  that  lives  not  by  rule 
lives  not  at  all."  Many  things  will  happen  to  try  the 
temper  of  both  the  master  and  the  slave.  Remember, 
"be  kind  and  tender-hearted,"  never  depart  from  the 
course  dictated  by  good  sense,  and  let  Christian  principle 
rule  in  all  things.  If  all  are  influenced  by  religion,  none 
will  have  cause  to  complain.  Ever  place  in  your  servants 
the  utmost  confidence.  Dedicate  your  tabernacle  to  God, 
offer  the  morning  and  evening  sacrifice  of  prayer  and 
praise  to  him.  Whatever  may  be  the  determination  of 
others,  let  each  one  say  as  did  Joshua  ;  "As  for  me  and 
my  house,  we  will  serve  the  Lord."  He  could  not  change 
their  hearts,  but  he  could  so  order  and  govern  his  family, 
as,  that  they  should  be  forced,  at  least,  to  conform,  in  all 
respects,  to  the  externals  of  religion  whilst  in  their  mas 
ter's  house,  and  when  properly  enlightened  and  convinced 
of  their  duty  they  will  take  pleasure  in  it.  We  have 
already  said  that  with  many  such  families,  we  are  person 
ally  acquainted.  We  have  long  known  them  and  we  are 
willing  at  any  time  to  point  them  out  to  those,  who  are 
so  ready  to  denounce  the  whole  south,  as  not  only  them 
selves,  "thieves,"  "kidnappers,"  "pirates,"  "murderers," 
and  u worse  than  pirates  and  murderers;"  but  also  declare 
that  the  entire  slave  population  amounting  to  almost  three 
millions,  are  "compelled  to  live  without  God,  and  die  with- 


96 

out  hope."  As  we  lament  to  say  there  are  some  bad 
wives,  some  bad  husbands,  some  bad  children,  some  bad 
servants,  so  there  are  some  bad  masters,  but  there  are 
also  hundreds  of  holy,  upright  masters,  and  happy, 
truly  happy  families,  including  numerous  pious  and  devo 
ted  servants  of  both  sexes. 

We  are  truly  sorry  to  be  constrained  therefore  after  a 
careful  perusal  of  doctor  Channing's  works,  and  espe 
cially  that  on  slavery,  to  say,  that  taking  his  exalted  talents 
and  standing  into  consideration,  we  have  seldom  ever 
read  any  thing  from  the  pen  of  any  abolitionist,  so  vitu 
perative  and  slanderous  on  southern  men,  and  at  the  same 
lime  so  unfair  and  false;  and,  but  for  the  same  exalted 
standing  which  we  take  into  consideration,  one  would 
think  indeed  a  malicious  account,  so  well  calculated  to 
set  the  north  and  the  south  forever  at  variance.  The 
doctor  is  not  content  only  to  abuse  his  neighbours  and 
northern  fellow-citizens  for  friendship  toward  the  south, 
those,  who,  having  the  feelings  of  brethren,  are  disposed 
to  consider  the  difficult  circumstances,  under  which  such 
are  placed  and  make  allowances  for  them  ;  but  he  actu 
ally  attributes  that  kindness  to  considerations  of  interest ; 
their  opposition  to  abolitionism  to  a  wish  thereby  to  pro 
mote  their  own  temporal  welfare,  and  not  the  love  of  their 
country  and  an  ardent  desire  to  perpetuate  the  union,  by 
a  mutual  forbearance.  But  reader,  let  the  doctor  speak 
for  himself!  "We  have,"  says  he,  "those  who  would 
fight  against  abolition  if  by  this  measure  the  profit  of  their 
intercourse  with  the  south  should  be  materially  impaired. 
The  present  excitement  among  us  (northerners)  is  in  part 
the  working  of  mercenary  principles.  But  because  the 
north  joins  hands  with  the  south,  shall  iniquity  go  unpun 
ished  or  unrebuked,  can  the  league  of  the  wicked,  the  re 
volt  of  worlds,  repeal  the  everlasting  law  of  heaven  and 
earth?  Has  God's  throne  fallen  before  Mammon's ?  must 
duty  find  no  voice,  no  organ,  because  corruption  is  uni 
versally  diffused?" 

This  is  very  pretty  indeed,  and  we  could  give  the 
reader  fifty  such  beautiful  quotations  from  doctor  Chan- 
ning ;  but  after  all  it  is  certainly  one  among  the  most 
crude  pieces  of  abolition  slander  we  have  ever  read. 


97 

What,  northern  brethren,  patriots,  statesmen,  divines, 
Christians,  whose  disinterested  benevolence  for  their 
southern  brethren,  bone  of  their  own  bone,  flesh  in  many 
instances  of  their  own  flesh,  who  see  and  know  that  a 
tyrant  mistress,  acting  under  the  name  of  mother,  forced 
and  quartered  on  them  thousands  of  savages  against  their 
wills  and  solemn  protests ;  therefore,  "they  are  worship 
ping  mammon  not  God,"  "are  influenced  by  corruption 
not  the  love  of  country,"  "are  acting  on  motives  of  self- 
interest,  not  on  a  principle  of  individual  and  national  for 
bearance  toward  independent  sovereign  sister  states,  in 
compact  on  specific  terms  with  them?  Individual  Chris 
tians,  whole  churches,  conferences,  conventions,  associa 
tions,  synods,  presbyteries,  aye ! — legislative  bodies  them 
selves,  are  all  under  the  influence  of  the  diabolical  princi 
ple,  the  love  of  money,  "the  root  of  all  evil,"  and  have 
joined  hands  with  the  south  in  "iniquity,"  among  whom 
"corruption  is  universally  diffused,"  and  "duty  finds  no 
voice,  no  organ."  And  this  union  of  northern  and  south 
ern  states,  and  northern  and  southern  feeling  of  kindness 
and  forbearance,  is  indeed  but  "the  league  of  the  wicked, 
the  revolt  of  the  world."  How  sublime  !  Moreover  in 
doing  this  they  unite  with  the  south  in  "shutting  the  ear 
against  the  voice  of  justice,"  in  shutting  "out  all  the  har 
monies  of  the  universe,  and  in  turning  the  voice  of  God 
within  them  into  rebuke."  Still  more  and  more  sublime ! 
Is  it  not  a  wonder,  that  this  matchless  eloquence  of  the 
doctor  does  not  almost  strike  dumb  all  who  read  it  ? 

But  the  intelligent  reader  shall  examine  into  the  cause 
of  all  this  vituperation  and  wrath  against  our  kind-hearted, 
generous,  charitable,  and  patriotic  northern  brethren.  He 
will  find  it  set  forth  in  a  solemn  and  unmanly  charge,  a 
stale  abolition  accusation  that  southerners  have  done,  and 
now  are  doing  nothing  to  better  the  moral  and  political 
condition  of  the  negro,  and  that  they  do  not  intend  to  do 
it.  That  "they  reduce,"  which  supposes  previous  exalta 
tion,  "the  colored  man  to  a  brute  for  selfish  gratification." 
But  let  the  reader  again  hear  doctor  Channing.  "The 
southern  slave  holders,  hold  the  slave  not  for  his  own 
good  or  the  safety  of  the  state,  but  with  precisely  the 
same  views  with  which  they  hold  a  labouring  horse,  that 
9* 


98 

Is,  for  the  profit  which  they  can  wring  from  him.  "They 
will  not  hear  a  word  of  his  wrongs."  "He  (the  master) 
extorts  by  the  lash,  that  labor  to  which  he  has  no  claim 
through  a  bare  selfishness,"  and  thus  "dies  to  the  proper 
happiness  of  man."  And  more  yet  "the  slave  holder  had 
better  beg  than  thus  steal,  better  live  in  an  alms-house 
than  thus  trample  on  a  fellow-creature  and  reduce  him  to 
a  brute  for  a  selfish  gratification."  We  leave  doctor 
Channing  and  his  abolition  party  to  settle  with  their 
anti-abolition  neighbours  and  fellow-citizens,  upon  their 
"guilt  or  innocence  as  to  their  motives  whether  they  be 
mercenary"  or  not.  We  do  not  believe  his  charges  against 
them,  we  have  too  much  charity  for  them,  and  we  know 
that  the  action  of  some  associated  bodies  on  this  subject, 
has  not  been,  and  could  not  be  founded  in  any  other  mo 
tives  than  those  of  piety,  goodness  and  patriotism.  Our 
northern  brethren  cannot  desire  us  to  give  up  the  fairest 
and  most  profitable  portion  of  our  happy  country,  for 
which  their  fathers  spilled  their  blood  like  water  on  the 
earth,  to  rescue  from  British  tyranny,  to  thousands  of 
slaves,  so  distinctly  marked,  and  raise  them  to  all  the 
rights  and  immunities,  political  as  well  as  other,  enjoyed 
by  themselves,  as  free  citizens.  No  !  no  !  no  !  It  cannot, 
cannot  be. 

But  to  produce  at  the  north  this  state  of  hostile  feel 
ing  against  us,  and  a  feeling  of  mock  humanity  toward 
the  slave,  we  are  charged  by  Dr.  Charming  and  his  abo 
lition  associates,  distinctly,  with  "reducing  the  colored 
man  to  the  condition  of  a  brute.19  With  trampling  on 
"our  fellow-creatures,  for  selfish  gratification,"  and  with 
"pillowing  our  heads  at  night  on  down,  at  the  cost  of  a 
wantonly  injured  fellow-creature."  Aye  more-!  By  ano 
ther  abolition  chief,  the  Hon.  William  Jay,  we  are  charg 
ed  with  having  "compelled  2,245,144  slaves  'to  live 
without  God,  and  die  without  hope/  among  a  people 
professing  to  reverence  the  obligations  of  Christianity." 
That  is,  Virginian  and  southern  slave  holders,  compel 
all  these  slaves  "to  live  without  God,  and  die  without 
hope."  Candid  reader,  whether  you  live  north  or  south 
of  the  Potomac,  can  you  believe  that  out  of  all  this  num 
ber  of  slaves  there  are  no  Christians  1  All —  all  "without 


99 

God?"  All— all  "die  without  hope?"  All— all  "com 
pelled"  thus  to  live,  and  thus  to  die?  Can  it  be  believed 
by  any  reasonable  man  that  such  slanders  as  the  forego 
ing  would  be  circulated,  by  such  men,  as  Dr.  Channing 
and  the  Hon.  Mr.  Jay ;  and  is  it  possible  that  such  wise 
men  would  wish  Virginia  and  the  South  to  turn  loose  on 
society,  at  least,  three  millions  of  such  heathens,  ready  for 
any  bad  deed,  as  they  say,  under  no  moral  restraints  or 
influences,  "living  without  God,  and  dying  without  hope?" 
It  is  true,  they  say,  "compelled"  to  do  so ;  but  this  does 
not  alter  the  case.  These  false  statements  and  charges 
may  have  their  influence  on  ignorant  men,  on  weak,  silly 
women,  and  on  children ;  and  we  will  tell  our  abolition 
friends  of  some  of  their  influences  before  we  are  done ; 
but  we  believe  that  there  is  no  man,  who  has  ever  gone 
through  Virginia  arid  our  southern  country,  who  has 
mingled  in  society,  who  has  become  acquainted  with  the 
slaves,  who  knows  their  true  state,  who  has  worshipped 
with  them  at  the  family  altar,  who  has  bowed  with  them  in 
the  house  of  God,  who  has  preached  to  them  and  their 
masters,  or  heard  preaching  to  them,  and  witnessed  their 
freedom  in  divine  worship,  and  ease  even  in  their  mas 
ters'  presence,  and  their  masters'  houses,  that  will  not 
give  these  statements  a  contradiction,  as  palpably  false. 
We  know  individual  ministers,  who  have  under  their 
care  from  fifteen  hundred  to  two  thousand  regular  mem 
bers  of  Christian  churches ;  and  we  know  one,  not  a  thou 
sand  miles  from  the  spot  where  we  now  write,  who  has 
at  this  moment  under  his  care  at  least  four  hundred  and 
fifty  colored  persons,  free  and  slaves — all  regular  mem 
bers  of  a  Christian  church,  among  whom  are  many  intel 
ligent  men,  some  of  them  close  readers,  and  it  is  thought, 
close  students.  They  have  a  Sunday  school,  a  missiona 
ry  society  to  send  the  gospel  to  Africa,  the  land  of  their 
fathers,  and  regular  worship  in  a  large  brick  church, 
built  by  themselves  and  their  friends,  white  and  coloured. 
Here  are  some  Christians. 

But  this  subject  shall  not  rest  on  our  evidence  alone, 
we  will  give  other  and  better  documents,  and  prove  to 
any  disinterested  and  candid  reader,  that  the  statements 
of  Dr.  Channing  and  Hon.  W.  Jay,  and  their  abolition 


100 

brethren,  are  a  direct  slander  on  all  the  slave  holding 
states.  A  slander  which,  as  the  means  of  being  informed 
are  within  the  reach  of  all,  would  seem  to  be  as  mali 
cious  as  it  is  false.  Now  we  contend  that  what  has 
been  stated  respecting  the  treatment  and  condition  of 
slaves  in  the  slave  holding  states,  (making  allowance  for 
extreme  cases,  which  in  the  present  iniquitous  condition 
of  the  world,  will  exist  every  where  in  all  the  relations  of 
human  life,)  by  Dr.  Channing,  Judge  Jay,  and  their  abo 
lition  associates,  is,  when  society  is  looked  at  as  a 
whole,  a  gross  slander  on  those  states.  We  will  not  de 
scend  to  the  low,  vulgar,  or  obscene,  and  surely  all  will 
allow,  ungenerous  attacks  on  the  entire  South,  MALES  and 
FEMALES,  as  winking  at  all  the  crimes  of  "fornication," 
"adultery,"  "cruelty  and  murder,"  which  by  the  misrep 
resentations  of  others,  are  poured  on  the  inhabitants  there 
of.  We  meet  the  question  on  fair  and  open  ground,  and 
we  believe  we  can  sustain  it,  by  establishing  facts  that 
must  appear  to  all  who  consider  this  matter  impartially,  as 
altogether  reasonable.  We  desire  the  reader  to  bear  in 
mind,  what  has  been  repeatedly  proved  from  various 
sources  in  our  previous  remarks  and  quotations,  that 
slavery  is  an  institution,  which  in  its  origin  and  progress 
was  repelled  and  resisted  almost  to  extremity  by  Virgi 
nia  and  the  South,  and  that  by  their  own  voluntary  ef 
forts,  they  have  prevented,  when  they  had  the  power,  by 
law  to  do  so,  the  further  introduction  of  slaves  into  those 
states.  That  the  augmentation  of  the  number  of  slave 
holding  states,  originated  in  the  natural  and  necessary 
extension,  of  both  the  white  and  colored  population,  the 
Louisiana  purchase  excepted.  And  in  this,  British  cu 
pidity,  strengthened  by  British  power,  under  that  part  of 
the  treaty  of  Utrecht,  called  the  assiento,  poured  in 
slaves  by  thousands  on  that  present  fair  portion  of  our 
country,  either  by  her  monopolies  called  the  African 
and  South  Sea  Companies,  or  by  her  emissaries,  not  one 
of  whom,  from  the  monarch  down,  ever  abandoned  the 
slave  trade,  until  it  ceased  to  be  profitable  to  them.  And 
as  an  offset  against  abolition  slanders,  we  further  say, 
that  the  condition  of  our  slaves,  mental,  moral  and  poli 
tical,  is  far  preferable  to  the  former  condition  of  their 


101 

fathers,  and  the  present   condition  of  their  brethren  in 
Africa. 

Of  that  former  condition,  in  their  fatherland,  we  have 
treated,  and  proved  too,  by  all  history,  ancient  and  mo 
dern,  that  Africa  from  time  immemorial,  has  had  four- 
fifths  of  its  inhabitants,  at  least,  in  bondage  ;  and  that  the 
universal  law,  among  the  thousand  tribes  that  rule  its 
vast  wastes,  is,  on  conquest,  slavery,  or  death.  In  ninety- 
nine  cases  out  of  one  hundred,  it  is  expulsion  from  the 
shores  of  Africa  and  slavery  too,  or  death.  Driven  then 
by  Africans  out.  of  Africa,  brought  here  by  British,  Dutch 
and  other  slavers,  they  have  been  forced  as  we  have  seen 
on  all  the  South.  But  the  generous,  noble,  kind-hearted 
southerners  have  not  neglected  the  untaught  savage.  O  ! 
no  !  They  sought  to  better  his  condition;  they  have  done 
so,  and  in  answer  to  the  abolition  slanders  of  Dr.  Chan- 
ning,  Judge  Jay  and  others,  we  present  the  condition  of 
the  African  in  America,  as  far  superior  mentally,  morally, 
and  politically,  to  that  of  his  fathers  or  his  brethren  in 
Africa.  Look  at  his  mental  condition.  It  is  said  "he  is 
ignorant  and  unenlightened."  This  is  admitted,  but  we 
ask  are  not  others  so?  What  is  the  state,  the  ignorant 
and  savage  state,  of  the  Indians,  though  surrounded  with 
civilization  and  all  its  benefits — although  they  live  in  some 
of  the  states,  in  the  midst  of  light  ?  Look  at  the  former, 
look  at  the  present  condition  of  Africa !  Is  there  a  chief 
there,  even  though  he  may  have  become  christianized 
of  late,  through  the  efforts  of  the  colonization  and  mis 
sionary  societies,  who  is  equal  in  mental  attainments,  to 
the  African  in  the  slave-holding  states?  I  doubt  whether 
there  is  a  negro  that  can  be  found  in  all  the  South,  as 
ignorant  as  the  greatest  chief,  now  reigning  and  ruling 
his  tribe,  on  the  western  coast  of  Africa.  Many  of  the 
American  negroes  read  and  write,  many  of  them  are  first 
rate  business  men,  farmers,  mechanics,  clerks.  Some  of 
them  are  scientific  men.  Several  with  whom  we  are 
personally  acquainted  are  first  rate  preachers,  good  di 
vines,  men  of  learning.  Slaves  it  is  true.  Aye  slaves ! 
but  men  of  sound  common  sense  and  extensive  reading. 
One  in  Mississippi,  a  carpenter  by  trade,  called  Stephen 
Johnson,  belonging  to  a  Major  Demoss,  a  friend  of  ours 


102 

now  present,  informs  us  is  a  man  of  such  scientific  at 
tainments,  that  white  as  well  as  colored  persons  delight 
to  hear  him  preach.  Two  or  three  of  our  personal  ac 
quaintances,  ordained  ministers,  men  of  exalted  talents, 
of  sterling  integrity,  are  regarded  and  respected  by  all 
who  know  them,  an  honour  to  that  society,  true  a  slave- 
holding  society,  in  which  they  were  raised,  educated,  con 
verted,  ordained  ministers,  and  in  which  they  now  suc 
cessfully  operate. 

The  intelligence  of  the  southern  negro  extends  to  and 
equals  all  the  business  operations  of  a  farm,  and  all  the 
horticultural  and  other  duties  of  domestic  life.  In  all 
these,  he  is  his  master's  adviser,  his  master's  planter,  his 
master's  manager,  and  indeed  like  Abraham's  servant, 
his  master's  "steward"  and  friend.  We  may  here  assert 
without  the  fear  of  contradiction  from  any  person,  who 
is  generally  and  intimately  acquainted  throughout  Virgi 
nia  and  the  South,  that  the  ratio  of  intelligence  is  equal 
among  the  slaves  of  those  parts,  "untaught"  as  they  are 
said  to  be,  with  the  laboring  population  of  any  portion  of 
Europe,  and  would  not  suffer  much  by  a  comparison  with 
that  of  some  stales,  where  there  is  such  a  boast  of  free 
dom.  This  opinion  of  ours  is  founded  on  an  absolute 
personal  acquaintance  with  the  colored  race  in  the  South. 
Moreover  we  go  farther,  we  believe  their  condition  men 
tally  superior  to  that  of  the  serfs  and  peasantry  of  some 
European  states. 

On  the  great  whole,  therefore,  after  all  the  statements 
of  abolitionists,  there  are  those  and  many  of  them  too, 
who  would  honour  the  North  itself.  We  have  long 
known  Eli  Nugent  and  Joseph  Cartwright,  of  Loudouri 
county,  arid  Luke  Johnson  and  John  Scott,  and  Charles 
Scott,  and  John  Chinn,  of  Prince  William,  and  David 
Chapman,  of  Spottsylvania,  and  Thomas  Jones,  of  Lan 
caster,  and  Lot  Carey,  of  Richmond  city,  and  Beverly  R. 
Wilson,  of  Portsmouth  and  Norfolk,  Captain  Cooper,  of 
Caroline,  and  Daniel  Carr  and  dozens  of  others,  in  Vir 
ginia,  most  of  whom  could  earn  and  have  earned,  $1,000 
per  annum,  as  business  men,  clerks,  tradesmen,  sales 
men,  superintendents;  and  their  wives  and  daughters, 
equal  in  cleanliness,  domestic  qualities,  qualifications,  and 


103 

intelligence  too,  with  the  poor  laboring  white  population 
of  some  states  which  we  could  name,  and  of  course  su 
perior  to  any  man  in  his  savage  state — as  much  so  indeed 
as  day  surpasses  night.  Their  forefathers  came  to  Vir 
ginia  and  the  South,  untaught  savages.  Who  instructed, 
who  taught  them  all  these  things  ?  Did  the  abolitionists! 
One  of  the  persons  last  named  bv  us  was  a  West  India 
trader,  an  extensive  merchant  in  Virginia—all  of  them 
business  men.  We  do  know  these  things  of  which  we 
speak,  from  an  experience  and  an  intimate  acquaintance 
of  thirty-five  years,  having  been  born,  raised,  and  edu 
cated  among  slaves.  We  can  name  such  men  as  Evans 
Williams,  Daniel  Webster,  David  Bruce.  Daniel  Bruce, 
Cook's  Jack,  all  in  the  same  state,  and  a  hundred  others 
good  and  true  men,  born  slaves,  now  freemen,  well  edu 
cated  and  doing  well,  prospering  in  business,  and  as  far 
removed  from  the  savage  state  as  men  can  well  be.  We 
have  been  circulating  north,  south,  east,  west,  though  we 
never  have  been,  are  not  now,  and  never  expect  to  be,  as 
before  stated,  a  slave-holder,  and  we  know  that  the  de- 
clarations  of  abolitionists,  respecting  the  negroes  ! 
"reduced  to  the  condition  of  a  brute,*'  by  slave-holders, 
is  a  sheer  fabrication,  a  gross  slander,  done  to  eflect 
selfish,  if  not  political  ends.  And  to  prove  our  sincerity 
in  making  this  statement,  we  challenge  doctor  Chan- 
ning,  or  Judge  Jay,  to  select  without  previous  training  for 
the  purpose,  one  hundred,  or  twenty-live,  or  twelve  labor 
ing  countrymen,  or  townsmen  cither,  north  of  Mason  and 
Dixonjs  line,  to  meet  as  many  of  our  Virginia  or  southern 
colored  men,  who  shall  come  without  any  previous  train 
ing  or  preparation,  to  Washington  City,  at  any  time,  and 
before  an  assembled  Congress,  they,  or  Dr.  Channing 
and  Judge  Jay  being  auditors  and  judges,  who  shall  de 
cide  on  their  compctrative  qutintum  of  intelligence,  from 
the  motions  and  order  of  the  heavenly  bodies  to  a  patch 
of  potatoes,  an  onion  bed,  a  jar  of  pickles  or  a  box  of 
Yankee  notions.  There  is  only  one  thing  in  which  t he- 
southern  colored  man  would  come  short.  Southern  ne 
groes,  like  their  masters,  are  liberal  and  generous  beyond 
all  calculation.  They  abhor  all  that  is  mean  and  ni^- 
/.  and  boast  in  sharing,  as  do  their  masters,  the  last 


KM 

fun1  cr/Ar  ami  /u'rrinif  \vilh  their  fellow  men.  They  know 
hou  ID  make  money  and  nt.in\  of  them  do  make  it,  hut 
ihe\  do  not  know  how  tu  save  it.  In  this  respect  they 
would  hear  hut.  a  poor  comparison  with  our  northern 
iiH'iuls.  who,  we  will  admit  hoth  know  how  to  make  and 
Keep  I  ho  "read i/  rhiuu." 

Some  will  ho  astonished  to  hoar  us  name  IMato  Mutt, 
a  slave  l»>r  ht'c,  who  lor  cash,  the  product  of  his  poultry 
.11  id  gardens,  his  labor  and  industry,  buys  thirty  and  forty 
dollars  worth  ol'  hooks  at  a  time,  and  has  and  reads,  as 
hundreds  do,  almost  all  the  temperance  and  feligioui  pa 
pers  and  traets  in  circulation.  Not  the  abolition  papers! 
These  they  have  publicly  denounced  as  landing  to  injure 
md  overwhelm  with  ruin  the  colored  race.  Sue  Haiti- 
more  Address.*  Ah  "hut  these  are  Virginia  or  Maryland 
ii. "'roes.  (Jo  farther  South,"  We  answer  to  this,  all  wo 
intended  tor  the  South.  What  would  you  think  to 
•le.n  111  our  southern  country,  a  colored  preacher,  living 
;n  the  -^late  of  •Mississippi '  f  Yes,  in  the  state  of  Missis 
sippi,  a  slave,  an  orator,  preaching  to  hundreds  of  white 
md  colored  persons,  introducing  into  his  discourse, science 
o|  almost  every  kind,  and  thus  displaying  the  infinite 
'"in  and  glorious  perfections  o(  the  mighty  God,  whilst 
his  listening  audience,  enraptured  and  excited  to  a  degree 
oi  devotion*  equal  to  my  thing  perhaps  over  witnessed 
north  ol  i  he  I  ludson,  delight  to  hear  and  honour  him. 
What  would  our  northern  brethren  think  of  a  colored 
slave,  preaching  in  the  very  heart  of  a  slave-holding  po 
pulation,  to  eight  or  ten  thousand  white  person*,  and 
thousands  of  colored,  all  bathed  in  tears,  and  bowing 
with  him  before  a  throne  of  mercy,  to  praise  the  match 
less  power  of  Grace  Divine  I  What  would  they  think  of 
beholding  MI  Carolina  and  Georgia  one,  two,  three  hun 
dred  colored  children,  in  a  Sunday  school,  taught  therein 
v\iili  the  approbation  of  their  owners,  Sabbath  after  Sab- 
Kith  '  \nd  this  was  a  common  thing  until  the  abolition- 
is!  >  !>e;Mn  lo  endanger,  by  their  inllammatory  papers  and 

Ii          kddftU     (if   tho     ColoH'll     IH'OJtU'     ill      H.llllHIOIf,   ill.l\\  I)     Up     I\V    til, 

M,  I     MI,,    \\  .  I. .    mil    I   i\  in"  .i.»n,  »iu'    ,i    tt'nul.nlv  .'itl.uurd    1'intrM.ml 

,•,»!  i  I,  ip  IH.III,  lli''  ollini  ouLmu-il  .Mftlii-ili-t  nuu^li  is,  ,uut  all  roli>mrtl 
in.  11        n>i>   i-  .111  u.liuti  il'l.    |'.t|>«'i 


105 

efforts,  the   peace  and  order  of  society,  and  the  welfare 
and  safety  of  both  the  master  and  slave. 

We  have  seen  on  a  Sabbath  morning  and  afternoon, 
on  the  plantation  of  an  old  valued  friend,  Mr.  John  Mur 
phy,  of  Westmoreland  county,  Virginia,  at  least  »nc. 
hundred  little  negroes,  assembled  under  a  largo  bush 
arbour  in  the  old  man's  yard,  to  IK;  taught  Sabbath  after 
Sabbath,  by  his  grandsons,  the  Masters  Rogers,  sons  of 
an  ollicer  of  the  last  war.  As  the  writer  of  this  walked 
from  the  arbour  toward  the  garden,  to  view  the  monu 
ment  roared  by  the  hands  of  that  brave  soldier,  over  the 
grave  of  his  amiable  and  pious  wife,  the  mother  oi  those 
boys,  we  beheld  a  sight,  such  as  would  make  abolitionists 
themselves  weep  for  joy,  if  they  can  fed  and  »/>rr/;.  We 
behold  the  granddaughters  of  that  venerable  gentleman, 
none  other  than  the  lovely  daughters  of  the  late  wealthy, 
popular,  and  excellent  slates'  attorney,  of  that  county, 
John  Campbell,  Hs<|.  seated  in  a  cabin  door,  and  around 
them  gathered  grown  coloured  people,  who  had  been  at 
church  that  morning,  to  whom  they  were  reading  the 
word  of  Almighty  God,  whilst  oil'  at  a  distance  sat  an 
ancient  coloured  man,  reading  in  his  Uiblo  to  his  a-vd 
wife  and  their  daughter  that.  word.  Ah!  how  often  also 
have  we  seen  the  maid  seated  to  hoar  her  mistress  read, 
and  then  unite  in  prayer  with  her  until  they  were  in  <-a<-h 
others  arms,  praising  the  God  of  all  grace.  And  how 
often  have;  1  heard  the  master  reading  to  his  servants, 
and  then  bow  with  them  at  the  same  altar,  and  look  for 
eternal  life  through  Jesus  Christ  our  Lord. 

What  will  abolitionists  think  of  a  coloured  man  in  Mis 
sissippi,  being  a  doctor  of  medicine f.  What  of  his  hnn^ 
a  regular  practitioner  of  physic  in  Port  Gibson,  in  thai 
states  What  of  his  owning  in  Hindi  county  two  farm  ' 
What  of  hi«  being  a  eiti/on  by  a  special  act  of  the  l« 
lature?  No  quack,  but  a  regular  graduate  of  the  Univer 
sity  of  Pennsylvania,  with  the  great  Dr.  Rush  as  one  of 
its  professors!  Will  abolitionists  say,  that  such  men  "are 
reduced  to  a  condition  worse  than  a  brute?"  Whilst 
living,  patronized  by  men  of  science,  now  dead,  Dr. 
Gowcn,this  coloured  man,  as  we  are  informed,  is  remem- 

10 


106 

bered  and  beloved  by  all — by  slaveholders  too,  who 
know  as  well  as  others,  to  separate  the  precious  from  the 
vile,  and  to  give  even  to  a  coloured  man,  though  a  slave, 
according  to  his  merits. 

But  let  us  turn  to  the  moral  condition  of  the  slaves  in 
the  slave-holding  states.  Judge  Jay  says,  and  Dr.  Chan- 
ning  and  the  abolitionists  come  into  his  help,  that  nearly 
three  millions  of  them  are  "compelled  to  live  without 
God,  and  die  without  hope."  That  is  to  say,  there  are 
no  Christians  among  the  three  millions  of  slaves,  if  there 
be  so  many  in  the  slave-holding  states.  There  is  nothing 
done  to  make  them  Christians;  worse  than  this,  they  are 
"compelled  to  live  without  God;"  this  is  bad  enough,  but 
the  picture  is  still  more  dark,  they  are  "compelled"  to 
"die  without  hope."  Well  may  these  great  men  preach, 
if  this  be  the  case,  a  successful  crusade  against  all  the 
South.  Well  may  old  ladies  become  deranged,  and  get 
up  petitions  twelve  yards  and  a  half  long,  signed  by 
men,  women,  and  children,  colored  and  white,  for  Con 
gress  to  put  down  the  slavery  of  the  South.*  Aye,  and 
the  slaveholders  too.  What — compel  three  millions  of 
immortal  souls  "to  live  without  God,  and  die  without 
hope?" 

But  stop,  let  us  hear  both  sides.  Now  we  deny  it.  Wre 
aver  that  this  is  only  one  among  ten  thousand  abolition 
slanders.  And  we  affirm  that  what  has  been  done,  and 
is  now  doing  to  better  the  moral  condition  of  the  negro 
slaves  in  the  South,  prove  such  assertions  to  be  both 
slanderous  and  false.  We  are  truly  sorry  to  say  that  we 
feel  constrained  thus  flatly  to  contradict  such  great  men. 
But  facts  are  stubborn  things,  and  who  can  get  over  them? 
In  speaking  of  the  mental  condition  of  the  slaves  of  the 
South,  we  have  had  to  make  allusion  to  things  properly 
relating  to  the  moral  state  of  some,  chiefly,  however,  to 
individual  cases.  When  therefore,  -now,  \\e  speak  of 
their  moral  condition,  we  allude  to  them  as  a  whole.  We 
have  been  among  the  negroes  south  of  the  Potomac  and 
those  north  of  it;  we  have  known  them,  we  have  known 
them  for  thirty-five  years;  we  have  watched  them,  we 

•This  is  a  fact  to  our  own  knowledge. 


107 

were  raised,  educated,  and  have  long  lived  among  them 
on  both  sides  of  that  ancient  river,  and  have  known  them 
a  great  way  north,  and  south,  and  east,  and  west  of  it. 
From  a  personal  knowledge,  we  can  testify  that  most  of 
the  coloured  people  of  standing  and  steady  habits,  belong 
to  some  one  of  the  large  Christian  denominations.  It  is 
true  they  are  said  to  be  "ignorant,"  and  this  religious  in 
clination  may  be  a  mark  of  their  ignorance,  in  the  estima 
tion  of  some ;  but  we  hope  it  is  no  evidence  that  they  are 
"compelled  to  live  without  God,  and  die  without  hope." 
We  know  that  it  has  been  customary  for  more  than 
twenty  years,  to  talk  at  the  North  about  the  destitute 
condition  of  other  parts.  And  when  men  desire  to  raise 
a  salary  to  sustain  themselves  in  the  South,  until  they 
can  get  "a  call"  to  a  good  living,  they  commence  preach 
ing  upon  the  destitute  condition  of  Virginia  and  the 
South.  We  remember  that  in  1818,  two  gentlemen  came 
preaching  in  the  lower  parts  of  Virginia;  and  a  long  re 
port  was  made,  of  the  want  of  Bibles,  and  preachers,  and 
Christian  institutions,  and  the  awful,  miserable  destitution 
of  all  that  tract  of  country,  in  length  about  one  hundred 
miles,  and  varying  from  fifteen  to  thirty  miles  in  width. 
At  that  very  time,  to  our  own  knowledge,  there  were 
regularly  ordained  Christian  ministers,  most  of  them  in 
charge  of  large  and  deeply  pious  congregations,  amount 
ing  in  number  as  follows:  Ministers,  twenty  to  twenty- 
five,  with  a  church  membership  of  at  least  three  thousand 
white,  and  as  many  coloured  people,  besides  other  socie 
ties  and  associations,  with  all  the  Christian  sacraments 
regularly  attended  to.  And  yet  these  people  were  "des 
titute  of  the  regular  stated  means  of  divine  grace"  ac 
cording  to  the  statements  and  reports  of  these  missionary 
gentlemen.  Why  was  it  so  ?  The  answer  is  found  in  the 
fact,  that  there  were  but  a  few,  if  any,  of  their  own  de 
nomination  there.  They  hunted  a  call  awhile,  but  not 
withstanding  our  destitute  condition,  set  down  with  a  good 
salary,  a  long — long  distance  from  thence.  We  do  abhor 
this  puritanical  canting ;  this  is  the  way  in  which  state 
ments  are  made  for  effect.  It  was  customary,  and  was 
not  considered  a  sin,  for  a  certain  church,  to  tell  lies  to 
do  good.  We  do  not  subscribe  to  the  doctrine,  nor  did 


108 

St.  Paul,  who  said,  "What,  shall  we  sin  that  grace  may 
abound?  God  forbid."  We  know  it  is  very  easy  to  say, 
that  there  are  almost  three  millions  of  coloured  people, 
where  men  know  no  better,  when  there  are  not  the  means 
of  contradicting  it,  who  are  "compelled  to  live  without 
God,  and  die  without  hope,"  "being  reduced  to  the  con 
dition  of  a  brute,"  by  masters,  in  whose  souls  "dies  all 
that  is  like  God." 

But  what  will  our  brethren  and  fellow-citizens  at  the 
North  say,  when  they  hear,  and  of  this  they  may  judge 
themselves,  that  there  are  thousands,  and  tens,  if  not 
scores  of  thousands  of  regular  coloured  church  members, 
in  the  Christian  churches  south  of  the  Potomac?  True, 
the  negroes  are  so  ignorant — there  are  none  of  them,  I 
believe,  professedly  "infidel"  We  have  never  known  a 
negro,  who  professed  to  be  an  Atheist,  an  Infdel,  a  Uni 
tarian,  or  a  Universalist,  though  we  have  been  acquaint 
ed  with  at  least  one  hundred  thousand  of  these  sable 
sons  of  Africa.  We  suppose  from  what  Dr.  Channing 
and  the  Hon.  Mr.  Jay,  and  their  abolition  associates  say, 
it  is  because  the  negroes  are  so  "ignorant."  Yes !  we 
repeat  it,  they  are  "so  ignorant"  that  they  are  chiefly 
all,  in  the  south,  members  of  three  or  four  denominations: 
Protestant  Episcopalians,  Presbyterians,  Baptists,  Metho 
dists,  among  all  of  whom  are  coloured  ministers  of  exalt 
ed  standing,  who  would  honour  any  pulpit  in  America. 
There  is  a  fifth  class  also,  called  sinners,  but  these  are 
so  very  tenacious  respecting  this  matter,  so  very  fasti 
dious  too,  that  they  will  not  consent  to  hear,  much  less 
unite  themselves  to  any  other,  than  Protestant  orthodox 
denominations.  This  is  their  "ignorance"  we  suppose — 
or  because,  as  Dr.  Channing  says,  they  are  reduced  be 
neath  "the  brute,"  or,  as  Judge  Jay  says,  "are  compelled 
to  live  without  God."  We  believe  it  is  because  they 
are  plain,  common  sense,  matter-of-fact  men,  as  most  of 
the  labouring  population  of  every  country  are.  And 
for  this  exaltation,  mental  and  moral,  and  this,  as  it  re 
gards  the  choice  of  religion  independent  state,  they  are 
indebted  to  those  who  have  reared  and  taught  them  to 
be  like  themselves,  plain,  honest,  matter-of-fact  men. 

The  once  degraded   savage  state  of  their  fathers,  is 


109 

forgot  by  both  the  master  and  slave;  the  latter  de 
lights  to  respect,  obey,  and  imitate  the  former,  whilst 
living,  and  he  reveres  his  memory  when  he  is  dead. 
While  his  owner  glories  in  knowing,  that  his  servants 
speak  of  him,  whithersoever  they  go,  as  their  kindest 
friend  under  God,  ali  his  anxiety  and  care  is  to  provide 
for  them  the  common  comforts  of  life,  consistent  with 
his  own  and  their  interest.  But  this  is  reducing  them  to 
a  condition  lower  than  that  of  a  "brute,"  it  is  compelling 
them  "to  live  without  God,  and  die  without  hope."  But 
that  our  northern,  and  eastern,  and  western  abolition 
friends  may  not  suppose  that  we  desire  or  design  to  give 
our  own  statements,  as  the  evidence  on  which  rests  the 
truth  of  our  assertions,  concerning  the  moral  condition  of 
the  negroes  of  the  south,  we  will  give  a  few  statistics, 
and  refer  to  some  laws  as  well  as  facts  to  prove  all  this. 
We  have  said  that  there  are  thousands  of  coloured  per 
sons,  regular  members  in  the  four  large  orthodox  Protest 
ant  churches,  south  of  the  Potomac. 

Upon  an  examination,  although  we  have  not  all  the 
reports  of  the  different  churches  at  hand,  which  we  de 
sire  to  lay  before  the  impartial  and  candid  reader,  yet, 
we  find,  there  are  in  one  department  of  the  Christian 
church  in  the  United  States,  hundreds  of  missionaries  and 
itinerant  ministers,  whose  duty  it  is  to  devote  as  much  as 
they  can,  if  not  all  of  their  time,  to  the  enlightenment  and 
religious  instruction  of  the  coloured  people,  within  their 
bounds.  On  the  plantations  in  the  south,  on  the  islands 
and  banks,  in  the  swamps,  in  the  towns  and  cities,  in  the 
Sunday  schools,  in  churches  built  especially  for  them,  by 
the  planters,  sustained  and  supported  in  many  instances, 
by  the  masters,  for  the  benefit  of  the  coloured  people,  and 
their  benefit  alone,  these  men  of  God  are  laboring  day 
and  night.  Among  those  they  have  under  their  care  are 
some  of  the  most  deeply  pious  men  and  women  that  we 
have  ever  known;  persons  who  honour  God  in  all  their 
walk,  and  whose  masters  would  not  have  them  be  with 
out  their  ministers,  their  religious  services  and  instruc 
tions,  on  any  account.  The  Methodist  denomination  also 
has  many  coloured  members  in  all  their  circuits  and  sta 
tions  throughout  the  slave-holding  states,  as  well  as  their 
10* 


110 

missionary  members.    In  the  city  of  Baltimore  alone  are 
upward  of  3,000  coloured  members.     In  the   District  of 
Columbia  at  least  1,600.     In  the  state  of  Virginia  about 
10,000  ;  in  South  and  North  Carolina  35,000;  in  Georgia 
about  10,000;  in  Alabama,  Tennessee   Arkansas,  Ken 
tucky  and  Missouri,  about  12,000.     In  the  United  States 
now,  but  little  short  of  100,000.     Astonishing ! — and  yet 
all  these  Christian  Methodists  are  "reduced  to  a  condi 
tion  worse  than  that  of  a  brute;"  "are  compelled   to  live 
without  God,  and  die  without  hope,"  as  abolitionists  say. 
In  the  Baptist  denomination  the  colored  membership  is 
far  more  numerous  than  in  any  other  south  of  the   Poto 
mac.     Often  have  we  witnessed  the  diligence,  the  care, 
the  order,  and  the  faithfulness  of  the  Baptist  ministry,  in 
waiting  upon,  preaching  to,  and  instructing  the  coloured 
man,  in  the   way  to   everlasting  life.     Who   that   ever 
heard  of  the  pious  labours  of  the  venerable  Leland,  and 
Fristoe,  and   Lunsford,  the  Baptist  pioneers  of  former 
days.    Who   that  ever   knew    any   thing  of  a    Semple, 
Strann,  Lathram,  Moore,  Jeter,  Broaddus,  Mason,  Mon 
tague,  and  hundreds  of  others,  with  whom  we  were  not 
personally  acquainted,  that  does  not  feel  able  to  testify, 
not  only  to  their  usefulness  among,  and  their  zeal  for  the 
coloured  race  ;  but  the  undissembled  piety  and  devotion  of 
thousands  of  their  coloured  members.     Althougn  we  know 
that  the  Baptist  coloured  members  out  number  those  of  the 
Methodist,  at   least  four-fold,  we  will  set  them  down  as 
only  double,    and   here   are  200,000  Baptist  Christians, 
which  added  to  the  Methodists  make  300,000.     There 
are  more   Baptist   and    Methodists   among  the    colored 
people,  than  there  are  Presbyterians  and  Episcopalians, 
we  set  both  down  as  equal  only  to  one  of  these  denomina 
tions.     Here  then  are  200,000  more,  which  added  to  the 
above  make  500,000  regular  church  members  among  the 
coloured  people.     These  form  only  about  one-fourth  of 
those  who  attend  service  regularly. 

When  those  who  are  not  church  members  are  added 
to  the  above,  it  will  make  at  least  two  millions  of  slaves 
in  regular  attendance  on  divine  service.  In  some  places 
they  have  large  spacious  churches  for  themselves  as  in 
Baltimore  Alexandria,  Charleston;  in  others,  they  have 


Ill 

seats  appropriated  for  them  on  the  lower  floor,  or  a  por 
tion,  or  the  whole  of  the  galleries  of  churches.     We  do  not 
know  in  any  slave-holding   state  in  this  union,  a  neigh 
bourhood,  where  a  church  has  been  built  for  any  of  the 
above    named    orthodox    Protestant    denominations,    in 
which,  a  portion  thereof,  was  not  set  apart  for  the  colour 
ed   people,  unless  they  have  a  church  of  their  own,  or 
other  provision  in  some  church  in  the  vicinity.     But  we  do 
know  churches  at  the  north,  where  no  seats  are  provided 
for  coloured    persons,  though  they    live   hard  by  those 
churches.    The  Roman  Catholics  amount  to  100,000  more. 
Now     whilst    abolitionists   preach,    until    all   the    old 
ladies  and  young  ones  too,  are  almost  dying  of  sorrow, 
to  free  and  bring  off  these  untaught  negroes  who  "are 
compelled  to   live  without  God  and  die  without  hope/' 
that  they  may  teach  them  a  better  way :    Look  ye  !    Here 
are  two  millions  in  regular  attendance   at  the  house  of 
prayer.     What  say   you  northern  and  eastern  brethren, 
what  say  you  to  all  this  ?    Will  you  look  into  the  minutes 
of  the  Methodist,   Baptist,   Protestant  Episcopalian  and 
Presbyterian  denominations,  and   make  the  calculations 
for  yourselves?    We  tell  you  "truth  is  almighty  and  must 
prevail."     "Error  is  an  edifice  erected  on  the  sand,  to 
be  endangered  by  every   wind  and  every  wave."     We 
appeal  to  facts,  stubborn  incontrovertible  facts,  and  we 
defy  successful  contradiction.     We  now  ask,  who  instruc 
ted   these  once  untaught  savages  forced  on  the  south  ? 
Who  taught  them   this  "new  and  living  way  ?"     How 
could  they  hear  without  a  preacher?     "Faith  cometh  by 
hearing,  and  hearing  by  the  word    of  God,"  who   has 
worn  out  himself  and    died    at   his  post,   teaching    the 
coloured  man  to  love  and  serve  his  Maker?     Those  vi 
tuperative   abolitionists,  who,  according  to  the  testimony 
of  the  coloured  people  themselves,  are  at  present,  and 
have  been  for  years,  the  coloured  man's  greatest  foes. 

We  give  now  their  opinion  of  this  subject  as  penned  by 
John  Fortie  and  William  Livingston,  and  Daniel  Peck,  of 
Baltimore,  the  committee  appointed  to  draw  up  the 
address  of  the  coloured  population  of  Baltimore,  against 
abolitionism.  In  the  Baltimore  American,  of  September 
29th,  1835,  there  appeared  a  piece  signed  "a  white  citi- 


112 

zen,"  which  referred  to  the  condition  of  the  coloured  people 
of  that  city.  To  the  efforts  made,  abolition  statements  to 
the  contrary,  to  meliorate  their  condition,  for  their  mental 
improvement,  their  peaceable,  orderly  and  good  conduct, 
notwithstanding  the  abolition  commotions,  and  an  appeal 
to  them  to  pursue  the  same  blameless  course.  This 
brought  out  the  coloured  people,  who  by  their  three  min 
isters,  John  Fortie,  of  the  Sharp  street  Methodist  Episco 
pal  Church,  Daniel  Peck,  of  the  Bethel  Methodist  Epis 
copal  Church,  and  William  Livingston,  of  the  St.  James' 
Protestant  Episcopal  Church,  all  coloured  men,  acting  in 
the  name  and  as  the  representatives  of  the  coloured  con 
gregations  of  Baltimore,  through  the  same  paper  addressed 
the  public. 

In  this  address  they  state  that,  with  humility  and 
gratitude  they  sincerely  acknowledge  the  efforts  made 
to  meliorate  and  better  their  condition,  and  the  great 
mental  improvement  resulting  from  the  same,  they  set 
forth  their  confidence  in  the  philanthropy  and  forbear 
ance  as  well  as  kindness  of  the  white  population,  and  pro 
claim  not  only  their  reliance  with  confidence  upon  it,  but 
their  determination  to  conduct  themselves  in  the  most 
peaceable  and  orderly  manner;  submitting  willingly  their 
destiny  to  the  guidance  of  heaven,  W7ith  the  deFermined 
resolution  to  unite  their  feeble  efforts  with  the  white 
population  of  Baltimore  in  resisting,  as  hostile  to  the  wel 
fare  and  happiness  of  the  coloured  man,  as  well  as  to  the 
peace  and  order  of  society,  abolition  excitements.  But 
let  them  speak  for  themselves,  and  let  our  readers  judge 
for  themselves,  from  those  extracts  made  from  this  excel 
lent  address.  Yea,  more!  let  abolitionists  see  the  opinions 
entertained  of  them  and  their  movements  by  the  most 
prudent  and  sensible  among  the  coloured  population  of  our 
country. 

They  proceed  and  say — 

"Therefore,  whatever  may  be  the  excitement  in  the 
community  in  which  we  live,  or  elsewhere,  we  deem  it 
our  paramount,  but  humble  duty,  to  pledge  our  fidelity, 
and  that  of  our  brethren,  to  the  Christian  public,  in  the 
sincere  hope  thereby  to  remove,  if  possible,  any  unfounded 
impressions  as  to  there  being  any  disposition  among  us, 


113 

or  our  brethren  generally,  of  the  city  or  vicinity  of  Bal 
timore,  to  countenance  any  views  or  movements  which 
tend  to  disturb  the  peace,  to  alienate  the  feelings,  to  pro 
voke  the  jealousies,  or  to  jeopardize  the  safety  of  the 
citizens  of  the  said  community. 

'•Wo,  therefore,  sincerely  hope  that  it  will  not  be  con 
sidered  superfluous  or  indecorous,  if  we  detail  a  few  par 
ticulars  why  we  and  our  brethren  are  bound  by  the  most 
sacred  duty  to  act  as  good  and  conscientious  citizens,  by 
carefully  and  scrupulously  avoiding  all  interference  and 
attempts  to  interfere,  and  all  manifestation  of  any  inten 
tion  or  a  wish  to  interfere  with  the  peculiar  interests, 
concerns,  and  laws  of  the  community  in  which  we  live. 
First.  We  have  within  the  said  city  ten  places  dedicated 
to  the  social  worship  of  Almighty  God,  wherein  we  are 
permitted  to  worship  the  Lord  according  to  the  dictates 
of  our  own  conscience,  and  are  protected  by  the  laws  of 
the  community.  Secondly.  We  have  among  us  from 
thirty-five  to  forty  benevolent  institutions,  both  male  and 
female,  for  mutual  relief,  each  of  which  numbers  from 
thirty-five  to  a  hundred  and  fifty  members,  and  much  of 
the  money  thereof  is  in  some  of  the  savings'  institutions 
of  this  city — and  also  among  us  there  are  various  me 
chanics  and  others,  who  have,  by  industry  and  frugality, 
purchased  houses  and  lots  of  ground,  horses,  drays,  carls 
and  carriages ;  all  of  which  are  sustained  and  protected 
by  the  laws  of  the  community.  Thirdly.  The  endearing 
social  relations  among  us,  of  husband  and  wife,  fattier 
and  mother,  of  brother  and  sister — our  many  week  day 
and  Sabbath  schools,  in  which  we  are  trying  to  train  up 
our  children  in  the  way  they  should  go;  by  acting  thus 
we  hope,  with  the  blessing  of  the  Lord,  to  form  in  them 
the  basis  of  moral  virtue,  a  correct  and  well  regulated 
mind,  whereby  they  will  be  led  to  abhor  vice  and  immo 
rality,  and  keep  the  good  order,  and  appreciate  the  peace 
of  the  community  in  which  they  live,  as  good  citizens. 
Fourthly.  The  various  employments  afforded  the  free 
coloured  population,  by  the  humane  and  influential  white 
citizens — the  respect  that  is  shown  to  the  orderly  and 
discreet  part  of  the  said  population,  by  the  captains  of 


114 

steamboats  and  the  owners  of  other  public  conveyances, 
when  passing  to  and  from  this  city. 

"Surely,  while  possessing  the  benefits  which  industry 
and  integrity,  in  this  prosperous  community,  insures  to 
all  its  inhabitants — enjoying  the  rich  blessing  of  the  reli 
gion  of  Christ,  by  opportunities  of  worshipping  the  only 
true  God,  under  the  light  of  Christianity,  each  of  us  ac 
cording  to  our  own  understanding,  and  having  afforded 
to  us  and  our  brethren  the  means  of  improving  our  con 
dition,  whereby  we  are  enabled  to  make  great  mental 
improvement— all  of  which,  are  enough  to  convince  us 
and  our  brethren,  that  whatever  tends  to  disturb  the 
commerce,  to  molest  or  destroy  the  peace  and  har 
mony  of  the  community,  the  coloured  population  always 
feel  the  greatest  pressure.  Can  the  thinking,  wise  and 
humane  part  of  the  white  citizens  of  this  great  commu 
nity,  be  led  to  believe  that  we  or  our  brethren,  in  view  of 
the  privileges  herein  detailed,  and  the  awful  calamity 
that  must  .come  upon  us  and  our  brethren,  should  we,  or 
they,  or  any  member  thereof,  be  so  perfidious  as  to  be 
come  the  abettors  or  destroyers  of  the  public  order  and 
tranquillity,  in  any  way  whatsoever. 

"Now,  in  view  of  these  particulars,  we  can  emphati 
cally  say,  that  we  believe  that  not  only  the  congregations 
over  which  we  preside,  but  the  other  coloured  congrega 
tions  also  of  this  city  and  vicinity,  and  the  coloured  po 
pulation  generally,  are  on  the  side  of  peace  and  good 
order,  and  are  determined,  with  the  blessing  of  God,  to 
pursue  the  same  blameless  course  of  conduct  as  hereto 
fore.  Therefore  we  will,  by  Divine  permission,  faithfully 
and  conscientiously  support,  with  fidelity,  our  pledge 
herein  given,  and  may  the  day  be  darkened,  whenever 
we,  knowingly  and  wittingly  ^  deviate  from  our  pledge. 

"Signed  in  behalf  of  the  said  coloured  population. 

"JOHN  FORTIE, 
"Minister  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  Sharp  street. 

"NATHANIEL  PECK, 
"Minister  of  the  Bethel  Methodist  Episcopal  Church. 

"WILLIAM  LIVINGSTON, 

"Minister  St.  James'  Protestant  Episcopal  Church,  Baltimore. 
"September  26th,  1835." 


115 

With  these  men  we  were  personally  acquainted.  Liv 
ingston  was  a  well  educated  and  regularly  ordained 
minister  of  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church,  in  Baltimore, 
a  man  of  good  acquirements  and  some  oratorical  pow 
ers.  He  lived  and  died  in  the  opinions  here  expressed. 
Fortie  is  a  most  excellent  minister,  as  is  his  venerable 
father,  with  whom  we  are  also  personally  acquainted. 
Both  are  men  of  education,  regarded  and  respected  by 
all  who  know  them.  They  expressed  these,  as  do  thou 
sands  of  others  with  them  now,  as  the  opinions  of  the 
coloured  people  respecting  this  northern  abolition  move 
ment.  The  truly  considerate  and  wise  coloured  man, 
never  has,  does  not  now,  and  never  can  say  to  such  dis- 
organizers,  "God  speed  you."  O!  no — no! 

Abolitionists  may  raise  a  dust,  and  keep  themselves 
off  at  a  distance  out  of  harm,  whilst  the  unsuspecting 
coloured  man,  or  his  upright  master,  or  both,  are  forced 
by  their  efforts  into  a  gulph,  where  all  must  certainly  be 
wrecked  and  ruined.  We  shall  never  forget  the  fable 
which  we  read  when  yet  but  very  young,  of  "the  boys 
throwing  stones  into  a  pond,  in  which  were  many  frogs." 
Abolitionists,  to  accomplish  their  own  selfish  and  political 
purposes,  throw  arrows,  fire-brands  and  death  in  our 
midst.  They  are  safe,  and  being  so,  care  not  whom  or 
how  many  they  injure.  And  but  for  the  exalted  piety  of 
thousands  of  southerners,  and  that  too  of  their  faithful 
and  devoted  servants,  God  only  knows  what  would  be 
the  consequences.  The  first  blow  struck  to  excite  and 
bring  on  a  servile  war,  would  be  but  the  signal  for  a 
destruction  of  the  descendants  of  those  transported  to 
these  shores,  against  the  will  of  the  South.  A  destruc 
tion  as  complete  as  revenge,  fired  with  indignation,  could 
possibly  make  it. 

That  no  effort  on  the  part  of  northern  abolitionists  has 
as  yet  been  able  to  accomplish  such  a  diabolical  end,  is 
but  another  and  a  truly  striking  evidence  of  the  forbear 
ance  of  the  masters,  and  of  the  fact,  that  the  piety  of  the 
southern  slaves  is  deep  and  undissembled,  and  that  they, 
instead  of  being  "compelled  to  live  without  God,  and  die 
without  hope," — instead  of  being  "reduced  to  a  condition 
beneath  that  of  a  brute,"  have  been  taught  and  persuaded 


116 

to  leave  their  father's  savage  state,  and  have  attained  a 
degree  of  religion,  that  does  honour  to  both  their  heads 
and  their  hearts.  It  is  wonderful  to  see  how  immensely 
the  moral  condition  of  that  race  has  been  bettered,  by  a 
removal  from  Africa  to  America. 

We  come  now  to  consider  their  present  political  state. 
It  is  said  by  those  who  are  only  accustomed  to  think  of 
a  master  as  an  oppressor,  and  a  servant  or  slave,  as  one 
that  is  oppressed,  that  the  political  relation  and  condition 
of  the  slaves,  is  one  of  unparalleled  wretchedness  and 
want.  The  necessity  of  providing  for  the  protection  of 
the  person  and  property  of  all,  and  especially  so,  when 
the  slave  population,  originally,  was  in  a  state  completely 
barbarian,  must  be  obvious.  But  we  may  appeal  to  the 
laws  and  decisions  of  any  country  and  prove  by  a  fair 
comparison  that  those  laws  that  are  passed,  are  chiefly 
preventive.  And  that  they  exhibit  by  no  means  a  dispo 
sition  on  the  part  of  the  white  man  to  tyrannize  over  the 
slave.  These  laws  upon  an  investigation  will  be  found 
far  less  severe  than  those  of  England,  with  all  her  boasted 
claim  of  liberty  and  philanthropy.  We  now  place  before 
the  candid  reader  a  collection  of  these  laws,  made  by  a 
gentleman  of  exalted  standing,  a  resident  of  a  free  state, 
who  never  owned  a  slave.  He  gives  us  a  synopsis  of  each, 
and  thus  shows  the  true  superiority  of  the  coloured  man, 
as  to  political  privilege  over  thousands  in  other  civilized 
lands.  The  laws  for  his  government  being  chiefly  pre 
ventive  and  protective  as  we  have  suggested,  tend  to 
the  benefit  and  safety  of  the  coloured  as  well  as  white 
race. 

Let  us  then  with  coolness  and  deliberation  examine 
them,  and  let  our  northern  brethren  decide  themselves, 
as  to  the  true  political  condition  of  southern  slaves. 

Under  the  penalty  of  death  by  the  laws  of  England  at 
this  moment,  there  can  be  no  assemblages  in  Ireland,  at 
all,  of  a  night.  But  in  the  slave-holding  states  generally, 
the  people  go  where  they  please  to  divine  service  at  night, 
to  other  places  such  as  to  corn  shuckings,  or  husking  and 
picking  matches,  by  custom,  which  is  law,  and  to  any 
place  at  any  time,  with  a  note  or  pass  from  their  mas 
ters,  mistresses,  or  overseers.  On  a  violation  of  the  peace 


117 

at  such  meetings,  the  punishment  is  only  by  stripes.  2. 
The  meetings  among  slaves,  when  broken  up  at  all,  are 
broken  up  by  a  peace  officer,  or  a  regular  patrol ;  but 
among  the  Irish,  according  to  English  laws,  by  an  infuri 
ated  soldiery,  with  all  the  severities  of  martial  law.  3. 
Among  white  men,  in  ifngland,  it  is  felony  to  possess 
fire-arms.  Severe  penalties  are  inflicted  on  those  selling 
liquor,  having  shows  without  license,  and  perjury,  forge 
ry,  setting  fire  to  barns,  stables,  houses,  &c,,  are  punish 
ed  in  England  with  death,  and  but  lately,  in  the  counties 
of  Kent  and  Sussex,  many  were  hanged  without  bene 
fit  of  clergy,  for  these  offences.  But  the  slaves  in  Ame 
rica  for  these  offences  are  only  punished  with  stripes,  or 
banishment.  4.  Preparing  and  administering  poison,  rape, 
conspiracy  against  the  government,  in  England,  is  death  ; 
and  if  the  same  be  proved  as  intentionally  done  by  a 
slave  in  America,  it  is  punished  in  the  same  way,  but  he 
is  generally  recommended  to  mercy  and  transported. 
5;  Shooting  a  partridge,  ensnaring  a  hare,  without  li 
cense,  and  stealing  a  loaf  of  bread,  in  England  are  pun 
ished  by  transportation,  and  many  of  the  capital  crimes, 
as  they  are  called,  which  are  punished  by  death  in  Eng 
land  ;  in  America,  among  slaves,  are  punished  by  stripes, 
branding,  or  by  the  loss  of  ears  as  in  the  case  of  perjury. 
In  America  itself,  the  laws  are  virtually  more  lenient  to 
the  ignorant  slave  than  his  enlightened  master,  for  the 
former  cannot  be  condemned  of  any  offence  without  the 
unanimous  consent  of  five  judges,  sitting  as  a  court  of 
Oyer  and  Terminer,  whilst  the  white  man  has  his  cause 
or  case  decided  by  a  majority  only  of  the  court.  And 
we  challenge  any  man  to  show  that  the  laws  for  the  gov 
ernment  of  slaves,  are  less  humane  in  principle  or  in 
practice  than  those  of  England,  for  the  government  of 
the  white  man.  She  ma^  find  a  sufficient  exercise  of 
her  humanity,  in  the  revision  of  her  code  at  home,  with 
out  looking  to  those  of  the  slave-holding  states,  for  the 
government  of  servants.  To  all  this  we  rriay  add,  that, 
virtually,  the  people  of  England  have  no  more  to  do  in 
making  the  laws  for  their  own  government,  than  have 
the  slaves  of  America,  and  indeed  little  or  no  power  to 
repeal  them  when  severe  and  tyrannical.  The  greatest 
11 


118 

portion  on  whom  those  laws  in  England  operate,  have  no 
more  to  do  in  making  or  repealing  them  than  has  the 
great  Mogul,  and  the  abolitionists  know  it,  as  well  as  we 
do.  6.  Besides,  the  laws  by  which  the  slaves  of  the 
south  are  governed,  are  not  more  oppressive  than  those 
of  many  states  of  this  Union.  We  have  ourselves  seen  a 
white  man  whipt  for  petty  larceny.  Some  are  so  philan 
thropic,  that  they  cannot  brook  the  idea  of  corporeal 
punishment,  much  less  the  sale  of  a  man ;  and  yet  Eng 
land  sells  them,  the  states  sell  vagrants,  and  whip  white 
men.  In  New  York,  the  law  was  to  whip  white  men  for 
minor  offences,  at  the  discretion  of  a  justice  of  the  peace, 
and  in  most  of  the  states,  this  law  is  a  part  of  their  code. 
Indeed,  we  believe  that  occasionally  a  little  whipping 
would  mend  the  manners  of  some  abandoned  men,  whose 
wives  and  children  are  thrown  on  the  public  for  a  sup 
port,  whilst  they  are  well  fed,  and  clothed,  and  attended 
to,  in  a  good  room  in  prison,  at  the  expense  of  others. 
The  lazy,  whether  negroes  or  white  men,  would  like -a 
little  indulgence  and  rest  of  this  kind  in  a  comfortable 
jail,  when  a  little  flogging  for  their  crimes  would  at  once 
set  them  to  rights.  To  confine  for  minor  offences  the 
slave,  would  be  manifestly  unjust,  because  his  master 
would  be' deprived  of  his  services.  We  could  name  too, 
some  states,  if  it  would  not "  be  considered  invidious, 
where  the  power  of  the  husband  over  his  wife  is  such, 
that  he  may  flog  her  if  he  chooses,  as  an  officer  does  the 
common  sailor  or  soldier,  and  is  protected  therein,  "in  his 
rights."  Yes!  RIGHTS  OVER  WOMAN,  the  weaker  vessel, 
so  that  whipping  be  but  "moderate."  But  it  is  said  that 
there  is  an  indemnity  for  such,  in  the  laws  of  the  land, 
by  which  they  are  protected;  so  there  is  in  the  laws  of 
the  slave-holding  states,  by  which  the  coloured  race  are 
also  protected  from  the  master's  abuse  of  his  power  over 
them.  But  again,  it  is  said,  there  are  cases,  where  that 
power  is  abused.  Admitted !  And  although  we  would 
not,  nor  does  the  law  justify  it,  in  the  most  indirect  man 
ner,  it  must  also  be  recollected,  that  many  parents  and 
husbands  every  where,  including  the  land  of  steady  ha 
bits,  abuse  their  power,  over  their  children  and  wives, 
and  are  there,  therefore,  no  laws  to  protect  them  ?  They 


119 

have  also  a  tie,  a  tie  of  ownership,  one  of  interest,  whic 
acts  on  them,  and  they  are  not  disposed,  except  in  isoh 
ted  cases,  to  injure  their  own  property,  by  an  abuse  < 
power.  It  is  a  slander,  a  libel,  one  too  at  war  with  a 
our  experience,  to  suppose  that  a  man  can  delight  to  ii 
jure  his  own  property,  and  thereby  lessen  its  value.  Tfc 
man  that  starves,  or  maims,  or  injures,  or  kills  his  slav 
cannot  have  his  services.  The  man  that  thus  treats  h 
wife  or  children,  cannot  retain  their  society  and  affei 
tions ;  but  because  some  men  do  it,  in  either  instance,  is 
therefore  to  be  charged  on  all  ? 

To  all  this  we  may  add,  the  resistance  of  public  op 
nion,  which  denounces  the  man  that  treats  his  slaves  i 
as  it  would  the  lawless,  bad  husband.  Public  odiu 
would  mark  him  out.  The  neighbouring  negroes  wou 
put  him  in  every  corn  husking  and  picking  match  son 
He  would  be  glad  enough  to  feed,  and  clothe,  and  tai 
care  of  his  servants,  to  get  them  to  aid  him  in  the  r 
demption  of  his  character.  From  personal  observatic 
we  believe,  there  is  nothing  that  affords  a  planter 
much  pleasure,  as  to  hear  that  the  negroes  of  his  farrr 
give  him  abroad  a  good  name,  and  nothing  mortifies  hi 
so  much  as  to  hear  the  reverse.  We  once  knew  a  m: 
whose  ox  broke  his  neck.  He  had  him  butchered  ai 
salted.  The  negroes  of  the  neighbourhood  got  hold  of 
they  put  it  into  their  corn  song  at  the  next  huskii 
match,  and  the  poor  fellow  had  actually  to  move  frc 
the  neighbourhood.  In  another  instance,  a  man  w 
was  known  to  treat  his  negroes  ill,  could  not  get  t 
neighbouring  slaves  to  come  and  aid  in  shucking  out  1 
corn,  although  he  uniformly  gave  good  suppers,  a  gre 
dance,  and  a  plenty  to  drink.  Their  masters  and  ow 
ers  would  not  make  them  go,  because  they  knew  the  m; 
was  a  hard  master,  and  the  negro  report  of  him  to 
true.  We  repeat,  there  may^  be,  and  doubtless  a 
cases  of  cruelty;  but  the  abolition  slang  of  doctor  Cha 
ning,  Judge  Jay,  and  their  associates,  taken  with  respc 
to  slave  states,  as  a  whole,  is  a  libel  on  southerne; 
The  coloured  man  in  the  south  is  one  of  the  happiest  < 
earth;  he  is  provided  for  by  his  master;  this  master 
forced  to  do  it  by  law,  if  he  does  not  do  it,  by  law  it  is  doi 


120 

and  the  master  forced  to  pay  for  it.  The  slave  works 
out  his  moderate  task,  and  then  sports  or  plays — at  the 
cross-roads,  the  court-house,  the  village,  the  town,  the 
city,  or  where  and  as  he  pleases,  provided  that  he  per 
form  his  moderate  task  of  domestic  duties.  True,  in 
corn  planting,  fodder  gathering  or  cotton  picking  time, 
like  the  labourers  at  the  north  and  east  in  harvest,  pump 
kin  or  apple-butter  and  cider-pressing  time,  the  men,  wo 
men  and  children  are  as  busy  as  bees — all,  all  at  work. 
We  have  ourselves  often  seen  in  the  free  states,  the 
beautiful,  sweet  looking  lasses,  with  a  reap-hook,  a  pitch 
fork,  or  a  rake,  hard  at  it  in  the  broiling  sun,  vieing  with 
the  young  men  in  reaping  wheat,  or  curing  hay.  These 
scenes  afforded  us  a  pleasure  far  superior  to  that  of  be 
holding  sometimes  the  men,  as  it  is  called,  "paling  the 
cows."*  This  is  only  surpassed  in  liveliness,  by  the  ne 
groes  at  the  corn  huskings  or  picking  matches,  when 
they  are  singing  one  of  their  wild  songs,  often  made  as 
they  go  along.  The  leader  sings  his  part,  and  all  hands 
join  in  the  chorus,  so  that  they  can  sometimes  of  a  calm 
day  or  evening,  be  heard  at  least  three  miles.  With  the 
assistance  of  a  friend  now  at  hand,  we  give  the  reader  a 
part  of  one  of  their  wild  songs.  We  hope  that  he  will 
not  consider  it  improper,  as  we  do  it  only  to  illustrate  the 
point  in  hand. 

"LEADER. — I  loves  old  Virginny.  CHORDS. — So  ho!  boys!  so  ho! 

L.  I  love  to  shuck  corn.  C.  So  ho,  &.c. 

L.  Now's  picking  cotton  time.  C.  So  ho,  Etc. 

L.  We'll  make  the  money,  boys.  C.  So  ho,  &.c. 

L.  My  master  is  a  gentleman.  C.  So  ho,  &.c. 

L.  He  came  from  the  Old  Dominion.  C.  So  ho,  &tc. 

L.  And  mistress  is  a  lady.  C.  So  ho,  &tc. 

L-  Right  from  the  land  of  Washington.  C.  So  ho,  8tc. 

L.  We  all  live  in  Mississippi,  C.  So  ho,  &c. 

L<.  The  land  for  making  cotton.  C.  So  ho,  Sec. 

L.  They  used  to  tell  of  cotton  seed.  C.  So  ho,  &tc. 

L.  As  dinner  for  the  negro  man.  C.  So  ho,  &tc. 

L.  But  boys  and  gals  its  all  a  lie.  C.  So  ho,  &tc. 

L.  We  live  in  a  fat  land.  C.  So  ho,  &tc. 

L'  Hog  meat  and  hominy.  C.  So  ho,  8tc. 

L-  Good  bread  and  Indian  dumplins.  C.  So  ho,  Sec. 

*  Milking  the  cows. 


121 


L.  Music  roots*  and  rich  molasses.  C.  So  ho,  8tc. 

L-  The  negro  up  to  picking  cotton.  C.  So  ho,  8tc. 

L«  An  old  ox  broke  his  neck.  C-  So  ho,  &.c. 

L.  He  belong  to  old  Joe  R .  C-  So  ho,  &c. 

L.  He  cut  him  up  for  negro  meat.  C.  So  ho,  &ui. 

L-  My  master  say  he  be  a  rascal.  C.  So  ho,  &tc. 
L.  His  negroes  shall  not  shuck  his  corn.  C.  So  ho,  8tc. 
L.-  No  negro  now  will  pick  his  cotton.  C.  So  ho,  &,c. 

L.  Old  Joe  hire  Indian-  C.  So  ho,  &c. 

L.  I  gwine  home  to  Africa.  C.  So  ho,  &c. 

L.  My  overseer  says  so-  C.  So  ho,  &.c, 

L.  He  scold  only  bad  negroes.  C.  So  ho,  8tc. 

L.  Here  goes  the  corn  boys.  C-  So  ho,  &.c." 

The  first  leader  having  sung  out  his  song,  all  at  once 
a  second  leader  will  break  out  with  his,  and  begins  unce 
rernoniously,  perhaps  with — 

"General  Washington  was  a.  gentleman.  C.  Here  goes  the  corn. 

L.  I  don't  love  the  pedlars.  C.  Here  goes,  &tc. 

L.  They  cheat  me  in  my  rabbit  skins.  C.  Here  goes,  &tc. 

L.  When  I  bought  their  tin  ware.  C.  Here  goes,  3tc." 
i 

A  gentleman  of  high  standing  in  Virginia  mentionec 
to  us  a  case,  but  the  other  day,  which  is  just  in  point 
A  minister  who  lived  in  his  neighbourhood  was  a  grea 
tobacco  planter.  There  was  not,  until  very  late  in  th< 
year,  any  rain  to  make  what  is  called  a  season,  for  setting 
out  tobacco  plants.  Whilst  the  parson  was  preaching  of 
a  Sunday  morning,  there  came  a  fine  rain.  He  sooi 
wound  up  the  service,  and  told  his  hearers  "how  gratefu 
they  ought  to  be  to  God  for  this  fine  rain,  and  now,"  sak 
he,  "let  us  go  home,  draw  our  plants  and  set  out  ou 
tobacco.  Come  negroes,  come  negroes,  all  of  you  go  hom< 
and  go  to  planting  !"  He  then  called  on  his  own  negroes 
by  name,  to  be  off  home  immediately  and  at  it.  This  wa: 
such  a  flagrant  violation  of  morality,  and  such  a  bad  ex 
ample,  that  the  negroes  put  him  into  their  corn  songs 
and,  said  this  excellent  gentleman,  "Sir,  I  assure  you  i 
is  now  twenty-five  years  since  that  happened,  and  thei 

*  Sweet  potatoes. 
11* 


122 

are  not  yet  done  singing  their  song  about  the  old  parson." 
Let  us  then  also  give  the  reader  a  part  of  it. 

"L,.  The  parson  say  his  prayers  in  church.  C.  It  rain  boys,  it  rain. 

L.  Then  deliver  a  fine  sermon.  C.  It  rain  boys,  it  rain. 

L.  He  cut  the  matter  short  my  friends.  C.  It  rain  boys,  &LC. 

L.  He  say  the  blessed  Lord  send  it.  C.  It  rain  boys,  Sic. 

L.  JYbttf's  the  time  for  planting  bacco.  C.  It  rain,  &.c. 

L.  Come  my  negroes  get  you  home.  C.  It  rain,  &tc. 

L.  Jim,  Jack,  and  Joe  and  Tom.  C.  It  rain,  &tc. 

L.  Go  draw  your  plants  and  set  them  out.  C.  It  rain,  &tc. 

L.  Don't  you  stop  a  moment  boys.  C.  ,It  rain,  &,c. 

L.  'Twas  on  a  blessed  Sabbath  day.  C.  It  rain,  Sec. 

L.  Here's  a  pretty  preacher  for  you.  C.  It  rain,  Stc." 

Poor  fellow ;  we  are  told  that  he  was  actually  sung  out 
of  the  neighbourhood. 

We  have  hired  slaves,  and  although  as  before  said  more 
than  once,  we  never  owned  one,  yet,  having  lived  so  long 
among  them,  we  have  closely  observed  and  marked  them 
as  one  of  the  labouring  classes  of  our  country,  and  from 
the  fact  that  they  have  no  care  in  providing  for  their  own 
families,  they  are,  we-  believe,  the  happiest  labouring 
class,  as  they  exist  and  are  situated  in  Maryland,  Virgi 
nia  and  the  South,  of  any  in  the  world. 

Who  that  ever  saw  the  thousands  of  negroes  collected 
at  a  camp  meeting,  from  the  Eastern  and  Western  Shores 
of  Maryland  and  Virginia,  on  the  Tangier  Islands  in  the 
Chesapeake  Bay,  or  at  those  meetings  in  the  South,  thou 
sands  of  thousands,  in  Georgia  and  the  Carolinas,  will 
not  say  so?  Singing,  praying,  preaching,  day  and  night, 
free  as  air.  "How  can  they  sing,"  say  abolitionists  ? 
How  can  they  sing,  ask  you,  sirs?  Why  for  the  very 
best  of  all  reasons.  They  want  but  little.  That  little  is 
amply  supplied  by  a  kind  master,  who  is  disgraced  if  he 
do  not  care  for  his  servants,  and  whether  he  is  willing  to 
do  it  or  not,  the  laiq  makes  him  do  it.  When  hz  cannot 
do  so,  another  will  do  it  for  him,  The  wife  and  the  chil 
dren  of  the  negro  are  provided  for  by  another,  their  mas 
ter,  and  with  his  master's  leave,  the  negro  spends  a  day, 
a  week,  or  weeks,  at  the  camp  meetings,  the  associations, 
the  courts,  at  night  at  a  husking  match,  or  any  where 


123 

else,  and  that  law  which  protects  the  master,  also  pro 
tects  his  slave,  and  prevents  that  master  from  using  him 
ill  or  abusing  his  power,  in  maiming  or  injuring  him  or 
his.  If  the  master  were  to  do  this,  he  must  stand  at  the 
bar  of  public  opinion — there  be  disgraced  as  an  unmerci 
ful  wretch,  and  whilst  there  is  one  man,  who,  for  gain, 
would  afflict  his  slaves,  there  are  a  thousand  masters, 
who  delight  to  do  them  good.  Just  as  we  know  is  the 
case  with  northerners.  Here  and  there  you  will  find  a 
pedlar,  from  "away  down  East,"  who  would,  if  he  could 
get  a  chance,  and  make  "a  speck1'  by  it,  cheat  you  out  of 
your  eyes,  whilst  to  our  knowledge,  and,  thank  heaven! 
we  delight  to  say  so,  and  that  from  delightful  experience, 
some  of  the  finest  specimens  of  generous,  noble,  disinte 
rested  benevolence,  real  and  God-like  piety,  we  have 
ever  seen,  have  been  among  our  kind  Yankee  friends  of 
New  England.  Hundreds  if  not  thousands  of  such,  we 
could,  and  would  delight  to  name,  if  it  were  proper  here. 
Shall  we,  because  of  the  brutality  of  some  few  overseers 
or  masters,  denounce  all?  Shall  we,  because  of  the  cun 
ning  of  some  of  the  sons  of  New  England,  denounce  all? 
No !  O  no !  We  hope  not.  We  know  the  cruelty  of 
some  northern  masters  to  their  apprentices,  and  shall  we 
therefore  denounce  all  ?  We  will  not,  we  dare  not,  we 
cannot  do  it. 

To  tell  the  truth,  such  ample  provision  is  made  by  law, 
to  protect  the  slave,  that  he  is  better  provided  for  in  this 
respect,  than  his  master.  The  courts  must,  in  all  cases, 
assign,  at  the  expense  of  the  state,  the  very  best  counsel 
for  the  accused  slave.  It  cannot,  as  we  have  seen,  con 
demn  him  unless  unanimous.  He  cannot,  if  condemned 
to  die,  be  legally  put  to  death  under  thirty  days,  unless  in 
times  of  insurrection  and  rebellion,  and  not  then  unless 
all  the  evidence  for  and  against  him,  is  placed  upon 
record,  and  in  some  very  short  time  sent  to  the  governor, 
who  has  the  power  to  reprieve,  and  who  almost  always 
does  it,  except  in  cases  virtually  involving  murder.  We 
have  seen  the  present  superiority,  mental  and  moral,  ot 
the  American  coloured  slave  over  the  native  African. 
We  have  already  shown,  and  if  not,  will  now  do  it,  by  a 
farther  synopsis  of  laws  in  his  favour,  that  he  is  as  much 


124 

under  the  protection  of  law,  as  any  man.  1.  Any  slave 
who  can  do  so,  with  the  assistance  of  his  or  her  master, 
mistress  or  friends,  may  buy  him  or  herself,  and  his  or 
her  wife,  or  husband,  or  children,  but  shall  not  own  slaves. 
2  No  taxes,  fee  bills,  fines  or  executions,  can  be  levied 
on  any  slave,  although  held  as  property,  so  long  as  there 
are  goods  and  chattels  wherewith  to  discharge  said 
claims;  and  if  at  any  time  taken  under  execution,  the 
officer  is  bound  to  feed  and  support  him  well,  and  pay  for 
it  first,  as  a  part  of  the  costs  of  said  suit ;  nor  can  they  be 
sold  by  an  executor  to  pay  off  the  debts  of  his  testator, 
so  long  as  there  is  other  property.  3.  No  master  can 
make  his  servant  wrork  on  Sunday,  except  in  the  ordinary 
household  offices.  A  master  or  owner  of  a  slave  who  is 
infirm,  or  too  young  or  old  to  work,  an  idiot  or  maniac, 
must  provide  for  and  take  care  of  him,  or  it  is  done  by 
the  managers  of  the  poor  at  the  master's  expense.  4.  A 
doctor,  in  case  of  sickness,  must  be  in  regular  attendance, 
and  should  a  master  neglect,  or  ill-treat,  or  maim,  or  kill 
a  slave,  he  is  put  on  his  trial  for  murder,  and  condemned 
and  hung,  under  various  acts,  just  as  in  the  case  of  kill 
ing  a  white  man.  5.  Slaves  are  at  all  times  permitted 
to  assemble  for  Divine  worship  on  their  owner's  farms, 
and  elsewhere  at  any  time,  as  we  have  before  said,  with 
permission  from  the  overseer  or  master;  and  the  master, 
or  masters  may  employ,  as  many  do  now,  and  have  long 
been  accustomed  to  do,  a  regular  minister,  to  act  as  a 
chaplain,  for  the  enlightenment  and  benefit  of  their  ser 
vants.  6.  When  not  charged  with  a  crime  affecting  life, 
they  may  be  admitted  to  bail,  as  a  white  man.  They  are 
always  good  witnesses  for  or  against  one  another,  and 
when  circumstances  confirm  their  statements  respecting 
the  commission  of  a  crime,  by  a  white  man,  the  latter, 
we  believe,  is  most  generally  convicted ;  it  is  not  said  to 
be  done  on  the  evidence  of  a  slave,  but  on  circumstantial 
evidence.  Now  we  ask,  what  is  there  in  the  political 
condition  of  the  slave,  so  heart-rending,  as  it  is  represented 
to  be  by  abolitionists?  What  to  justify  the  remarks  of 
Dr.  Channing  and  others,  that  "their  rights  are  sacrific 
ed,"  especially  "those,  the  dearest  and  most  sacred,  their 
liberty  or  freedom?'  When  did  they  or  their  fathers 


125 

have  it?  Who  gave  them  the  right,  or  their  abolition 
friends  the  right  to  ask  or  claim  it  for  them  here  ?  Who 
dare  say  that  we  shall  go  farther,  and  give  to  the  children 
of  slaves,  forced  on  our  fathers,  the  country  bought  for  us, 
by  their  blood?  Hold  abolition  gentlemen,  we  pray 
you  hold !  Ponder  your  acts  a  little,  lest  you  stir  up  a 
contest  that  shall  end  in  the  destruction  of  the  coloured 
race  on  this  side  the  water,  if  it  do  not  destroy  your  own 
brethren,  who  aided  you  in  your  struggles  for  emancipa 
tion  from  British  tyranny. 

Let  us  here  for  one  moment  institute  a  comparison 
between  the  condition  of  the  slaves  in  the  United  States, 
and  those  now  in  the  possession  and  under  the  rule  of  the 
British  government,  that  boasts  of  abolitionism.  This 
we  cannot  better  do  than  by  quoting  an  extract  from 
"The  Asiatic  Journal,  for  1838,  published  in  London," 
page  221,  and  appended  as  a  note  to  the  speech  of  Mr. 
Bailey  in  the  Virginia  House  of  Delegates,  during  the 
session  of  1841.  Indeed  there  are  many  parts  of  Mr. 
Bailey's  speech  so  applicable  to  this  point,  that  we  can 
not  forbear  making  several  quotations  from  it,  although  it 
may  be  considered  as  a  digression  from  our  main  subject. 

The  piece  to  which  we  allude  is  entitled  "government 
of  slaves  in  Malabar,"  on  which  subject  it  was  written  by 
the  editor,  in  London,  the  capital  of  Great  Britain.  Mr. 
Bailey  makes  the  following  remarks.  "It  is  a  fact  which 
cannot  be  denied,  that  British  abolition  of  West  India 
slavery,  was  an  act  of  pure  and  unadulterated  fanaticism. 
To  prove  this  I  need  not  refer  to  the  historical  truth, 
that  during  her  brightest  days  she  was  the  greatest  slave- 
dealer  on  earth,  but  I  may  rest  upon  the  fact,  that  she 
was,  at  the  time  of  West  India  emancipation,  the  greatest 
slaveholder  in  the  world,  and  hired  out  her  slaves  for 
profit."  Mr.  Bailey  then  gives  the  quotation  above  alluded 
to,  in  the  following  words  : 

"We  know  that  there  is  not  a  servant  of  government  in 
the  south  of  India,  who  is  not  intimately  acquainted  with 
the  alarming  fact,  that  hundreds  of  thousands  of  his  fel 
low-creatures  are  fettered  down  for  life  to  the  degraded 
destiny  of  slavery.  We  know  that  these  unfortunate 
beings  are  not,  as  in  other  countries,  serfs  of  the  soil,  and 


126 

incapable  of  being  transferred,  at  the  pleasure  of  their 
owners,  from  one  estate  to  another.  No;  they  are  daily 
sold  like  cattle,  by  one  proprietor  to  another  ;  the  hus 
band  is  separated  from  the  wife,  the  parent  from  the 
child  ;  they  are  loaded  with  every  indignity  ;  the  utmost 
quantity  of  labour  is  extracted  from  them,  and  the  most 
meagre  fare  that  human  nature  can  possibly  subsist  on, 
is  doled  out  to  support  them.  The  slave  population  is 
composed  of  a  great  variety  of  classes  :  the  descendants 
of  those  who  have  been- taken  prisoners  in  time  of  war; 
persons  who  have  been  kidnapped  from  the  neighbouring 
states;  people  who  have  been  born  under  such  circum 
stances  as  that  they  are  considered  without  the  pale  of 
the  ordinary  castes,  and  others  who  have  been  smuggled 
from  the  coast  of  Africa,  torn  from  their  country  and 
their  kindred,  and  destined  to  a  more  wretched  lot,  as 
will  be  seen  to  a  more  enduring  captivity  than  their  breth 
ren  of  the  western  world.  Will  it  be  believed  that  govern 
ment  itself  participates  in  this  description  of  property ; 
that  it  actually  holds  possession  of  slaves,  and  lets  them 
out  for  hire  to  the  cultivators  of  the  soil,  the  rent  of  a  whole 
family,  being  two  farams  or  half  a  rupee  per  annum  ?" 
c'But  why  dwell  on  these  comparatively  free  slaves  1  The 
whole  of  Hindustan,  with  the  adjacent  possessions,  is  one 
magnificient  plantation,  peopled  by  more  than  one  hun 
dred  millions  of  slaves,  belonging  to  a  company  oj  gentle 
men  in  England,  called  the  East  India  Company,  whose 
power  is  far  more  unlimited  and  despotic  than  that  of  any 
southern  planter  over  his  slaves,  a  power  upheld  by  the 
sword  and  bayonet,  exacting  more  and  leaving  less  of 
the  product  of  their  labour  to  the  subject  race,  than  is 
left  under  our  own  system,  with  much  less  regard  to  their 
comfort  in  sickness  and  age."  Mr.  Bailey  continues  his 
remarks  thus: 

"The  success  of  Abolition  in  England  gave  a  powerful 
impulse  to  it  in  this  country.  I  have  shown  that  the 
abolitionists  triumphed  in  England  about  1830.  Before 
that  time  the  subject  had  been  but  little  agitated  here, 
except  on  one  memorable  occasion  by  the  citizens  of  the 
northern  states.  Before  that  time,  but  few  of  the  people 
of  those  states  claimed  the  privilege  of  regulating  our  do- 


127 

mestic  concerns  for  us.     Until  then,  except  on  the  occa 
sion  to  which  I  have  referred,  when  the  politicians  attempt 
ed  to  convert  it  to  their  purposes,  the  agitation    of  the 
subject  of  emancipation,  was  confined  to  a  few  peaceful 
Quakers.     They  occasionally  petitioned  congress  upon 
the  subje<ft;    their  petitions  were  promptly  rejected,  and 
nothing  was  heard  of  them  thereafter.     Their  rejection 
gave  rise  to  no  agitation.     But  after  the  success  of  abo 
lition  in  England,  petitions  from  a  different  class  of  per 
sons   began    to  pour  into    Congress,    until  in  1836,  Mr. 
Pinckney  of  South  Carolina,  in  an  ill-fated  hour  moved  to 
refer  them  to  a  select  committee.     Yielding  to  the  fatal 
delusion  that  fanatics  are  to  be  reasoned  with,  he  under 
took  to  argue  with  them  in  a  congressional  report.     His 
vain  effort  resulted  as  he  ought  to  have  anticipated.     His 
rebuke  produced  about  as  much  effect  upon  the  abolition 
ists,  as  did  Canute's  upon  the  waves ;  and  the  one  had 
about  as  much  excuse  as  the  other  for  making  the  attempt. 
"Mr.  Pinckney  made  a  very  elaborate  and  able  report ; 
but  so  far  from  its  allaying  excitement,  as  was  predicted, 
it  only  added  oil  to  the  flame.     Under  his  resolution  the 
petitions  of  thirty-seven  thousand  petitioners  were  laid 
upon  the  table.     In    1837,  the  petitions  of  one  hundred 
and   ten    thousand  petitioners  were  laid  upon  the  table 
under  Mr.  Patton's  resolutions.     And  in  1838,  five  hun 
dred   thousand  shared   the  same  fate.     The  number  of 
petitions  had  increased,  in  three  short  years,  from  thirty- 
seven  thousand  to  five  hundred  thousand.     And  this  only 
includes  the  number  presented  in  the  House  of  Represen 
tatives  ;  those  presented  in   the   Senate  not  being  taken 
into  the  estimate.     There  were  in  the  United  States  two 
hundred   and  twenty-five    abolition    societies.     In    1836 
they   numbered   five   hundred  and  twenty-seven.      The 
number  had  risen,  in  1837,  to  one  thousand  and  six.     And 
in  May,  1838,  they  had   run   up  to  one  thousand  three 
hundred  and  forty-six !     I  have  not  seen  a  statement  of 
their  increase  since  then,  bat  doubtless  they  have  aug 
mented  in  the  same  ratio.     These  societies  contained,  in 
1838,  one  hundred  and   fifty   thousand   actual   enrolled 
members.     I  derive  these  facts  from  the  annual  returns 
of  the  societies." 


128 

In  the  State  of  Ohio,  where,  a  few  years  since,  a  law 
was  passed  to  facilitate  the  recovery  of  runaway  slaves, 
he  says: 

"Her  supreme  court  is  intelligent  and  firm.  It  has 
lately  decided  virtually  against  the  constitutionality  of  an 
act  of  the  legislature,  made,  in  effect,  to  fa  vouf  southern 
slavery,  by  the  persecution  of  the  coloured  people  within 
her  bounds.  She  has  already  abolitionists  enough  to  turn 
the  scale  in  her  elections,  and  an  abundance  of  excellent 
material  for  augmenting  the  number.  A  few  years  since, 
a  law  was  passed  in  this  state,  providing  for  carrying 
into  effect  the  provision  of  the  Constitution  of  the  United 
States,  in  relation  to  fugitives  from  service.  This  law 
was  passed  in  aid  of  the  law  of  Congress  upon  the  sub 
ject,  and  is  a  faithful  fulfilment  of  that  slate's  constitu 
tional  obligation.  But  this  law  has  given  rise  to  great 
excitement  in  the  state.  Its  repeal  is  most  vociferously 
demanded.  It  is  denounced  as  the  'Black  Act,'  and 
should  it  be  repealed,  doubtless  its  advocates  will  go  to 
another  extreme,  and  pass  a  law  similar  to  the  law  of 
New  York." 

It  is  not  our  intention  now  to  discuss  the  constitution 
ality  of  this  subject.  That  may  be  found  in  an  other 
place,  where  we  shall  again  take  the  liberty  in  other  parts 
of  this  work,  of  quoting  largely  from  Mr.  Bailey's  most 
admirable  speech,  which  we  have  also  done  from  the  noble 
defence  set  up  by  others  for  the  southern  views  on  this 
subject.  Who  is  there  that  will  not  be  excited  when 
he  reads  the  foregoing  quotations  ?  What,  hundreds 
of  thousands  of  abolitionists,  with  members  of  con 
gress  at  their  head,  demanding  that  the  South  undo  all 
that  they  and  their  fathers  have  done,  to  civilize  the  Afri 
can  race,  and  better  their  mental,  moral,  and  political" 
condition  ?  A  race  once  savage,  now  comparatively  an 
enlightened  and  a  religious  people,  and  as  a  labouring 
class  one  of  the  happiest  in  all  the  world.  What,  turn 
them  loose  to  depredate  on  society,  and  fall  back  into 
their  savage  state  ?  And  shall  England,  slave-holding 
England  throw  the  apple  of  discord  in  our  midst  and  dare 
to  interfere  in  our  concerns,  and  call  for  an  emancipation 
of  our  slaves  ?  Slaves  in  a  better  condition  than  thousands 


129 

of  her  own  subjects  in  England  itself,  not  to  speak  of  those 
in  Ireland  and  Hindostan?  What,  shall  she  seek  to 
occasion  that  we  imbrue  our  hands  in  a  "brother's  blood  ?" 
God  forbid  !  but  we  forbear !  We  will  not  say  what  our 
own  indignation  at  such  an  act  would  prompt  us  to  say. 
We  proceed  to  the  discussion  of  another  point  in  this 
delicate  subject. 


12 


PART     V. 


THAT  A  DIRECT  AND  IMMEDIATE  EMANCIPATION  OF  ALL  SLAVES, 
NOW  IN  THE  SLAVE-HOLDING  STATES,  UNCONDITIONALLY,  AS 
IT  REGARDS  THEIR  OWNERS^  IS  VIRTUALLY  THE  PLAN  OF 
DOCTOR  CHANNING,  AND  AVOWEDLY  THAT  OF  THE  ABO 
LITIONISTS  IN  GENERAL.  THAT  SUCH  AN  ABOLITION  OF  SLA 
VERY  HERE,  AMONG  US,  BEING  FRAUGHT  WITH  CONSEQUENCES 
SO  REPULSIVE  TO  THE  FEELINGS  OF  THE  WHITES,  AND  EVI 
DENTLY  SO  DANGEROUS  AND  SUBVERSIVE  OF  THE  SAFETY  OF 
BOTH  THE  WHITE  AND  COLOURED  POPULATION,  IS  NOT  THE 
PROPER  REMEDY  AGAINST  THE  EVIL  OF  SLAVERY. 

AT  first  view  one  hardly  knows  how  to  take  the  great 
Dr.  Charming.  We  have  already  suggested  that  at  times 
he-'holds  with  the  hare  and  runs  with  the  hound."  When 
we  first  read  his  piece  on  slavery  we  were  disposed  to 
think,  in  our  charity,  that  writing  in  the  dark,  he  did  not 
exactly  know  what  to  do,  which  side  to  take,  and  that  he 
desired  to  examine  both  sides,  and  mark  their  bearings. 
At  last  it  occurred  to  us  that  the  doctor  had  written  in  that 
ambiguous  manner,  the  better  to  get  southerners  to  buy 
and  circulate  his  book.  Subsequent  events  have  proved, 
however  indisposed  we  were  to  such  a  conclusion,  that  it 
is  the  true,  indeed  his  only  reason,  for  such  a  course. 
Since  that,  we  have  read  his  tract  on  "Emancipation," 
and  that  also  on  the  "Annexation  of  Texas  to  the  United 
States."  The  doctrines  of  these  tracts,  as  well  as  the  one 
on  slavery,  prove  beyond  a  contradiction,  that  Dr. 
Channing  was  at  the  commencement,  is  now,  and  in 
tends  to  be,  an  ABOLITIONIST  of  the  deepest  dye.  That 
he  is  the  mortal,  open,  downright  enemy  of  all  the  South. 
That  he  is  ready  to  join  in  any  measure  to  uproot  its 


132 

institutions,  and  cripple  and  curtail,  if  not  destroy,  its 
weight,  its  influence  and  power,  in  this  union.  We  re 
peat  we  are  sorry  to  be  forced  to  such  a  conclusion,  but 
before  we  are  done  we  will  quote  Dr.  Channing,  that  he 
may  here  speak  for  himself,  and  by  his  own  words  de 
monstrate,  that  Garrettson,  Judge  Jay,  Scott,  Sunderland, 
and  Storrs,  do  not  surpass  him,  and  truly  that  none  of  the 
abolitionists  have  ever  exceeded  him  either  in  misrepre 
sentation,  abuse,  or  wanton  attack  on  all  the  South,  inclu 
ding  TEXAS.  Yea  more  !  All  these  tracts  demonstrate 
this  leading  fact,  one  which  we  have  been  forced  in  spite 
of  ourselves,  after  a  careful  second  reading,  and  some 
parts  of  his  books  several  times,  that  Dr.  Channing  is  a 
fanatic,  who,  whilst  he  lacks  the  power,  does  not  lack  the 
disposition  to  carry  out  his  fanatical  principles  though  at 
the  price  of  the  "life,  liberty,  fortune,  sacred  honour,"  the 
virtue,  yea,  lives,  of  ALL  the  Anglo-American  race  of  the 
entire  South.  Heaven  forgive  us  if  we  be  wrong  !  But 
we  will  as  promised  already,  before  we  are  done,  give  the 
doctor's  own  words,  and  those  of  the  abolitionists  to  con 
firm  them,  as  to  their  true  meaning,  and  let  the  impartial 
and  intelligent  reader  judge  for  himself.  We  will  let  Dr. 
Charming  have  the  benefit  of  telling  his  own  principles  and 
views  on  our  pages  in  his  own  way.  If  however,  we 
should  fail  in  our  quotations  from  the  doctor's  tracts,  to 
establish  these  things,  we  will  go  to  acts,  to  deeds,  these 
speak  louder  than  words,  and  we  will  adduce  his  own 
efforts,  to  incite  Professor  Hare  of  the  University  of  Penn 
sylvania,  to  commence  this  attack  on  the  south  in  a  way 
and  at  a  time  to  make  it  be  felt  most  acutely.  Yes,  Pro 
fessor  Hare,  one  of  the  most  talented  and  renowned  pro 
fessors  of  chemistry  in  all  the  world.  One  revered,  re 
spected  and  beloved,  by  thousands  of  his  old,  as  well  as 
present  students  in  all  the  south.  A  professor  whose  fame 
is  not  only  on  the  lips  of  every  man  of  learning  at  home, 
but  on  the  wings  of  the  wind,  it  has  flown  over  the  wide 
Atlantic,  and  his  work  on  chemistry  will  be  a  text  book 
and  companion  of  the  student  in  Europe  and  America, 
when  this  great  man  shall  be  numbered  with  the  dead. 

For  the  present  we  lay  over  Dr.  Channing's  letter  to 
this  learned  professor  to  get  up  a  meeting  in  Philadelphia, 


133 

where  are  generally  in  attendance  from  five  to  seven  hun 
dred  southern  students,  to  wound  and  insult  their  feelings, 
before  an  enlightened  assembly,  to  be  convened  for 
anti-slavery  purposes  in  that  great  city.  We  say  for 
anti-slavery  purposes,  for  whoever  will  read  Dr.  Chan- 
ning's  tract  on  the  "Annexation  of  Texas  to  the  United 
States,"  will  at  once  perceive  that  the  whole  drift  of  his 
argument,  is,  that  by  this  the  direct  and  immediate  eman 
cipation  of  the  coloured  race  in  the  United  States  may  be 
presented  to  his  readers,  for  which  he  and  as  we  all  know, 
all  abolitionists  contend.  We  refer  however  the  reader 
to  the  letter  itself,  which  may  be  found  in  that  most  ad 
mirable  and  interesting  work  entitled  "TEXAS  AND  TEX- 
ANS,"  by  GENERAL  HENRY  STAVART  FOOTE,  of  Missis 
sippi.  In  the  meantime  we  will  undertake  to  show  that 
the  emancipation  of  the  slave  population  of  our  country, 
is,  according  to  Dr.  Chanriing  and  his  abolition  associates, 
a  direct,  immediate,  and  entire  abolition  of  slavery,  to 
take  place  here,  that  is,  in  the  midst  of  the  slave-holding 
states.  But  let  them  speak  to  the  reader  for  themselves, 
and  he  shall  hear  them,  after  that  we  shall  have  given  a 
few  pithy  and  facetious  remarks  of  a  friend  in  a  letter 
now  before  us.  For,  as  Professor  Hare  received  a  letter 
from  the  north,  so  we  have  received  one,  and  from  a 
gentleman  and  a  professor  too,  of  exalted  standing. 

UJ  notice,"  says  our  friend,  "the  remarks  you  make 
respecting  the  works  of  Dr.  Channing.  It  will  be  easy 
to  expose  and  explode  his  sophistry ;  but  I  doubt  whether 
'the  game  is  worth  the  candle,'  especially  as  on  the  sub 
ject  of  slavery  he  has  written  for  both  markets,  north  and 
south,  and  has  unfortunately  belittled  himself  into  the  fa 
ble  of 'the  man,  the  boy,  and  the  ass,'  for  in  trying  to 
please  every  body,  he  has  pleased  nobody,  and  lost  his 
ass  in  the  bargain." 

For  the  information  of  the  reader,  we  notice  that 
sometime  in  1835,  Dr.  Channing  put  forth  his  work  enti 
tled  simply  "Slavery,"  it  being  doubtless,  as  our  friend 
has  suggested,  for  both  markets :  the  publisher  was  so 
sure  of  an  extensive  sale,  that  he  had  it  stereotyped. 
We  have  already  suggested  that  its  title  and  bitter  pills 
carefully  sweetened,  its  abstract  principles,  wholly  inap- 
12* 


134 

plicable  to  the  facts,  as  they  exist,  and  his  denunciations 
of  the  south,  covered  up  with  "blarney  most  sublime," 
were  well  calculated  to  delude  southerners  into  the  pur 
chase  of  his  book.  The  doctor's  abolition  friends  well 
knew  that  all  his  reproofs  of  abolitionism  were  only  an 
argument  ad  captandum,  and  that  the  apparent  force 
and  application  of  these  to  themselves,  were  alike  pre 
vented  by  such  expressions  as  those  in  which  abolition 
ism  is  represented  not  as  the  cause  of  "a  few  enthusiasts, 
but  the  cause  of  freedom."  In  which  it  is  represented  as 
identifying  itself  "with  all  our  rights  and  popular  institu 
tions."  Abolitionists  are  set  forth  as  "a  persecuted  peo 
ple,"  whose  sufferings  command  his  sympathies,  and  that 
persecution  as  "without  a  parallel  in  our  country."  "The 
persecuted  abolitionists  have  the  sympathies  of  the  civil 
ized  wrorld.  The  country  which  persecutes  them  is 
covering  itself  with  disgrace,"  says  the  doctor,  "and  fill 
ing  the  hearts  of  the  friends  of  freedom  with  fear  and 
gloom.  Already  despotism  is  beginning  to  rejoice  in  the 
fulfilment  of  its  prophecies,  in  our  prostrated  laws  and 
liberty.  Liberty  is  indeed  threatened  with  death  in  a 
country,  where  any  class  of  men  are  stripped  with  impu 
nity  of  their  constitutional  rights.  All  rights  feel  the 
blow.  A  community  giving  up  any  of  its  citizens  to  op 
pression  and  violence,  is  preparing  for  itself  the  same 
fate.  It  invites  chains  for  itself  in  suffering  them  to  be 
imposed  on  any  whom  it  is  bound  to  protect." 

It  cannot,  of  course,  be  supposed  by  the  considerate  rea 
der,  that,  after  the  use  of  such  sycophantic  language,  and 
that  indeed,  the  language  of  propitiation  to  the  abolition 
ists,  the  south  could  repose  any  confidence  in  the  reason 
ings  or  professions  of  Dr.  Channing.  Were  we  here  to 
ask  the  question,  and  attempt  to  answer  it,  what  is  an 
abolitionist?  we  would  give  Dr.  Channing's  book  on 
slavery  as  a  definition,  and  Dr.  Channing  himself,  as  we 
shall  see,  as  one  of  the  most  insinuating  and  untoward 
of  all  abolitionists.  After  opening  his  case  in  the  intro 
duction,  with  elaborate  protestations  of  his  good  feelings, 
&c.>  10  the  south,  is  it  not  enough  to  arouse  the  indigna 
tion  of  any  man,  south  of  Mason's  and  Dixon's  line,  to 
hear  his  condolence  for  the  "poor  persecuted  abolition- 


135 

ists,"  who,  with  a  cruelty  almost  as  diabolical  as  that  of 
Satan  himself,  would  encompass  sea  and  land,  heaven 
and  earth,  (if  they  could,)  to  force  their  southern  fellow- 
citizens,  leagued  with  them  in  a  solemn  compact,  called 
a  constitution,  which  is  the  basis  of  the  Federal  Govern 
ment,  to  give  their  liberty  and  country  to  a  parcel  of 
African  slaves,  forced  on  them,  in  part,  by  the  fathers  of 
those  very  abolitionists.  What  sickly  whining  then,  is  that 
condolence  of  Dr.  Channing  with  the  poor  persecuted 
abolitionists,  who  with  premeditated  and  fiend-like  cold 
ness,  would  apply  the  lighted  torch,  and  with  murderous 
hand  involve  us  and  our  children  in  a  ruin  both  sudden 
and  complete? 

We  will  give  some  quotations,  we  said,  before  we  are 
done,  from  Dr.  Channing  himself,  and  other  abolitionists, 
to  prove  all  this.  One  sentence  in  the  very  commence 
ment  of  his  work  on  slavery  would  be  enough.  He  be 
gins  with  this  principle,  and  presently  we  shall  see,  that 
he  ends  with  it.  The  abolition  of  the  negroes,  any  how, 
is  his  doctrine.  But  hear  him.  "As  men,"  says  this  doc 
tor,  "as  Christians,  as  citizens,  we  (abolitionists)  have  or 
owe  duties  to  the  slave,  as  well  as  to  every  other  member 
of  the  community.  On  this  point  we  have  no  liberty. 
The  eternal  law  binds  us  to  take  the  side  of  the  injured, 
and  this  law  is  peculiarly  obligatory,  when  we  forbid 
him  to  lift  an  arm  in  his  own  defence."  "All  other 
powers  may  fail.  This  must  triumph.  It  is  leagued 
with  God's  Omnipotence.  Slavery  cannot  stand  before 
it."  "To  embody  and  express  this  great  truth  is  in  every 
man's  power,  and  thus  every  man  can  do  something  to 
break  the  chain  of  slavery."  "No  fellow-creature  can 
be  so  injured,"  that  is  by  slavery,  "without  taking  terrible 
vengeance."  We  have  hardly  the  space,  or  time,  or 
disposition,  to  make  the  many  quotations  similar  to  these, 
which  we  might  make,  from  the  eight  chapters  and  note 
of  Dr.  Channing  in  this  work  on  slavery,  in  which  are 
considered:  1.  Property.  2.  Rights.  3.  Explanations. 
4.  Evils  of  Slavery.  5.  Scripture.  6.  Means  of  Re 
moving  Slavery.  7.  Abolitionism.  8.  Duties,  and  then 
his  note. 

That  Dr.  Channing  is  for  a  direct  and  an  immediate 


136 

emancipation,  his  own  declarations  to  the  contrary  not 
withstanding,  is  manifest  from  the  fact,  that  he  says, 
"there  is  but  one  obstacle  in  the  way,  and  that  may  be 
easily  overcome."  "There  is,"  says  he,  "but  one  weighty 
argument  against  immediate  emancipation,  namely,  that 
the  slave  would  not  support  himself  and  children,  by 
honest  industry,  that  having  always  worked  from  com 
pulsion,  he  will  not  work  without  it."  "Here  lies  the 
strength  of  the  argument  for  continuing  present  re 
straint,"  "restraint"  only,  says  he,  "not  to  be  his  master's 
property."  To  be  restrained  by  civil  law,  but  sent  off 
from  his  master,  turned  out  on  society,  turned  out  at 
once,  if  he  can  feed  himself  and  children.  If  he  cannot 
do  this,  then  only  restrained,  but  not  by  his  master.  His 
master  is  "a  thief,"  "a  robber,"  a  "kidnapper,"  a  "pirate," 
a  "murderer,"  "worse  than  a  murderer."  "Give,"  says 
he,  "the  slaves  a  disposition  and  power  to  support  them 
selves  and  their  families  by  honest  industry,  and  complete 
emancipation  should  not  be  delayed  one  hour"  Why  so, 
doctor'?  Because  says  he,  "The  slave  cannot  rightfully, 
and  should  not  be  owned,  by  any  body."  "His  master  is 
educated  in  injustice,"  "and  has  exercised  an  usurped 
power  from  his  birth."  And  what  next,  doctor?  Hear! 
read  !  let  it  be  marked  !  "There  is  but  one  obstacle  to 
emancipation,  and  that  is  the  want  of  .that  spirit,  in  which 
Christians  and  freemen  should  resolve  to  exterminate 
slavery."  And  again,  "I  do  not  mean  to  condemn  this 
mode  of  action  as  only  evil,"  that  is,  action,  such  as  the 
above  abolition  action.  "There  are  cases,  to  which,  it 
is  adapted,  and,  in  general,  the  impulse  which  it  gives  is 
better  than  the  selfish,  sluggish  indifference  to  good  ob 
jects,  into  which  the  multitude  so  generally  fall.  This 
enthusiasm  of  the  individual,  in  a  good  cause  is  a  mighty 
power." 

The  second  book  of  Dr.  Channing  is  entitled  "Emanci 
pation,"  and  is,  virtually,  a  kind  of  commentary  on  the 
letters  of  Mr.  Gurney,  to  Hon.  Henry  Clay,  Tespecting 
the  effects  of  a  direct  and  immediate  emancipation  of  the 
slaves  of  the  West  India  islands,  by  Great  Britain.  Dr. 
Channing  after  the  sweeping  clauses  written  several  years 
since,  which  we  have  quoted  above  from  his  work  on 


137 

slavery,  feigns  himself  rather  in  a  state  of  doubt  and 
uncertainty,  respecting  the  wisdom  of  the  plan,  until 
he  read  Mr.  Gurney's  letters,  and  now,  behold  he  is  all 
abolitionist.  He  can  doubt  no  longer.  He  is  forced  to 
the  conclusion.  Britain,  slave-holding,  slave-trading, 
tyrannical,  overbearing  Britain,  that  made  clear  profits 
in  a  few  short  years,  of  at  least  four  hundred  millions  of 
dollars,  by  the  slave  trade,  and  built  up  thereby,  at  the 
expense  of  humanity,  and  the  safety  of  the  South,  her 
empire  in  Hindostan,  has  immortalized  herself  by  eman 
cipating  West  India  slaves,  at  an  expense  of  a  few  mil 
lions  of  dollars.  But  if  "these  matters  were  violating 
rights,  and  they  could  be  'no  property'  from  the  begin 
ning,  and  God's  word  is  against  this  worst  of  evils,"  and 
"heaven  denounces,"  and  "hell  is  the  reward  of  it,"  &c. 
as  Dr.  C.  says,  how — how  came  it  to  be  so  glorious  an 
act,  for  that  mistress  of  tyrants  to  pay  their  masters  for 
them?  Behold,  Dr.  C.  has  just  found  out  what  before  he 
had  condemned  in  the  abolitionists,  that  this  subject  of  a 
direct,  immediate  emancipation  of  three  millions  of  slaves, 
to  take  possession  of  the  lands  and  homes  of  their  masters, 
and  by  being  raised  at  once  to  the  possession  and  exercise 
of  equal  laws  and  equal  privileges,  force  them  from  the 
very  country,  "for  which  our  fathers  fought  and  bled  and 
died,"  is  the  true  plan.  "I  ought  not,"  says  Dr.  C.  "to 
be  accused  of  wishing  to  give  a  political  aspect  to  the 
anti-slavery  cause."  "I  am  very  unwilling  that  it  should 
take  the  form  of  a  struggle  for  office  and  power.  Still  it 
has  particular  relations,  and  of  these  I  shall  speak  with 
perfect  freedom.  The  topic  is  an  exciting  one,  but  as  I 
look  at  it  with  perfect  calmness,  I  hope  I  shall  not  disturb 
the  minds  of  others."  This  is  exceeding  kind  indeed. 
"I  do  not  wish  to  give  it  this  turn,  I  am  unwilling  it  should 
take  this  form,"  &c.  "Still  it  has  its  political  relations." 
I  will  discuss  them  but  I  shall  not  be  abusive  and  excited 
as  most  abolitionists  are.  "I  look  at  it  with  perfect  calm 
ness."  "I  hope  1  shall  not  disturb  the  minds  of  others." 
In  other  words  doctor,  you  will  cry  peace,  you  will  quiet 
the  troubled  waters,  you  will  hush  all  opposition,  and  by 
sweetening  the  bitter  pill,  will  persuade,  till  it  is  swallowed 
by  at  least  all  the  friends  of  the  South,  in  the  North,  and 


138 

then  let  the  South  arouse  and  find  themselves  on  a 
volcano,  whose  thunders  you  have  waked,  and  whose 
hellish  fires  you  have  helped  to  kindle.  This  is  calmness 
is  it? 

To  carry  out  these  his  designs,  Dr.  C.  makes  his  quo 
tations  from  Mr.  Gurney's  letters,  on  which  he  comments 
and  sets  forth  for  public  denunciation  "the  base  master," 
as  fattening  on  the  labour  of  his  slaves,  in  "violation  of 
all  rights/7  "and  the  unconcern  of  human  nature,  for  that 
oppressed  slave,  as  well  as  the  master's  iniquity."  South 
erners  are  abused,  as  yielding  to  "this  base  doctrine," 
involving  "the  sacrificce  of  rights"  "the  dearest  and  most 
sacred."  The  paralysing  effects  of  slavery  on  a  master 
reclining  on  an  ottoman  or  sofa,  are  pointed  out,  as  also 
the  superiority  of  European  freedom  over  that  of  Ameri 
can;  northern  and  southern  Christians,  (especially  the 
METHODISTS,)  and  ALL  but  the  merciful,  the  kind-hearted, 
and  benevolent  abolitionists,  are  handled  by  the  doctor 
without  gloves.  Woman  herself  is  exhorted,  Amazon 
like,  zealously  to  engage  in  mighty  contest  against  the 
South.  The  consciences  of  southerners,  the  patriotism  and 
holy  religion  of  northerners,  the  guilt  of  delay,  the  glory 
of  immediate  victory,  and  pride,  and  prejudice,  ambition, 
earth,  heaven — all,  all,  are  appealed  to,  to  effect  that 
mighty  change,  by  an  emancipation,  immediate  and 
direct,  such  as  England  has  effected  in  the  West  India 
islands.  And  all  and  every  part  of  this  morsel  of  aboli 
tionism,  is  published  by  the  American  Anti -Slavery  So 
ciety,  Nassau  street,  in  New  York,  to  be  sent  forth  from 
thence,  by  thousands,  and  circulated  to  inflame  the  minds, 
and  excite  to  insurrection  the  slaves  of  the  South.  So 
much  then  for  the  "coo/ness"  and  Stoical  calmness  of  Dr. 
Channing,  arid  his  discussion  of  "the  political  relations" 
of  this  subject — one,  gotten  up  by  those  who  seem  deter 
mined  never  to  stop,  until  the  slave  shall  be  forced  to  the 
performance  of  deeds  which  must  wake  up  the  slave 
states,  that  like  lions,  though  they  now  sleep,  wrhen  waked 
up,  shall  make  this  nation  feel  that  we  have  not  entered 
into  the  federal  compact  to  have  our  rights,  our  feelings, 
our  interests,  our  business,  and  our  safety  all  insulted, 
violated  and  interfered  with,  by  those  who  never  have 


139 

had,  and  never  will  have  committed  to  them,  the  right  of 
interference  in  our  internal  concerns. 

The  other  pamphlet  of  Dr.  Channing  purports  to  be  a 
letter  addressed  to  the  Hon.  Henry  Clay,  of  Kentucky, 
on  the  annexation  of  Texas  to  the  United  States.  As  we 
propose  at  another  place  to  consider  this  pamphlet,  we 
pass  it  over  now,  only  remarking  that  it  contains  further 
evidence  of  Dr.  Channing's  hostility  to  the  South — of  his 
connection  with  the  abolitionists,  as  one  of  their  chiefs  or 
champions,  and  of  a  fact,  at  which  the  learned  doctor  at 
first  shuddered,  and  which  he  denounced — that  is,  that 
abolitionism  should  become  "political."  Now  he  becomes 
a  most  conspicuous  ABOLITION  POLITICIAN,  and  all  the 
South  is  denounced,  as  guilty  of  acts  the  most  atrocious 
that  ever  were  committed,  not  so  much  for  the  following 
reasons:  The  indirectly  assisting  the  Texans  (a  band  of 
villains  as  they  are  virtually  called  by  Dr.  C.)  to  procure 
their  freedom  from  Mexican  tyranny  and  bondage :  the 
acknowledgment  of  the  independence  of  such  lawless 
marauders — the  encouragement  given  to  its  settlement 
by  southern  cotton  and  sugar  growers,  and  that  its  union 
with  the  United  States  would,  as  he  thinks,  be  unconsti 
tutional,  and  calculated  to  extend  the  power  of  the  South; 
but  especially,  because  it  will  be  extending  slavery,  or 
rather,  to  use  the  language  of  Dr.  Channing,  then  "all  the 
islands  of  the  Archipelago  will  have  cause  to  dread  our 
power, but  none  so  much  as  the  emancipated"  and  wars 
"having  for  their  object  the  subjugation  of  the  coloured 
race,  and  the  destruction  of  this  tempting  example  of 
freedom." 

To  annex  Texas,  "slavery  will  be,"  says  the  doctor, 
"perpetuated  in  the  old  states,  as  well  as  spread  over 
new."  "It  is  by  slave-trading  and  slave-selling  that  these 
states  subsist.  Take  away  a  foreign  market  and  slavery 
will  die,"  "and  the  single  consideration,  that  one  human 
being  is  placed  powerless  and  defenceless  in  the  hands  of 
another,  to  be  driven  to  whatever  labour  that  other 
may  impose,  &c. — is  most  hostile  to  the  dignity,  self- 
respect,  improvement,  rights  and  happiness  of  human 
beings."  "In  so  doing,  we  cut  ourselves  off  from  the 
communion  of  the  nations,  we  sink  below  the  civili- 


140 

zation  of  the  age,  we  invite  the  scorn,  indignation  and 
abhorrence  of  the  world."  Such  are  the  remarks  of  Dr. 
C.  which  we  now  barely  quote,  to  show  the  determined 
hostility  to  all  the  interest  and  safety  of  the  slave-holding 
states,  that  exists  in  his  mind,  and  those  of  abolitionists 
in  general. 

The  plan  of  Great  Britain,  with  the  exception  of  re 
muneration  to  the  master,  for  the  loss  of  his  servants,  is 
the  plan  of  Dr.  C.  and  his  abolition  brethren,  only  it  must 
be  immediate  and  direct.  Direct,  immediate,  (uncondi 
tional  as  it  respects  the  master,)  unconditional  and  uni 
versal  emancipation,  here  in  our  midst,  on  our  land,  to 
possess  our  homes,  our  rights,  our  privileges,  our  coun 
try,  virtual/y  our  all — yes,  reader!  I  will  show  you 
after  a  while,  and  from  Dr.  Channing  too,  our  sons,  our 
daughters,  if  not,  and  this  perhaps  would  please  some 
better  than  all,  that  negroes,  putting  us  out  of  the  way, 
shall  possess  our  wives,  as  well  as  our  homes.  We 
tremble  whilst  we  pen  these  sentences.  We  are  driven 
to  do  so,  by  that  most  fatal  of  all  sorts  of  fanaticism  in 
this  country,  abolitionism.  The  waters  of  the  old  Poto 
mac  and  those  of  the  Chesapeake,  have  never  yet  been 
stained  with  the  blood  of  our  brothers.  This  country  has 
never  yet  been  disgraced  by  a  civil  war.  We  pray  God 
it  never  may !  and  especially  one  stirred  up  by,  and  mixed 
with  a  servile  insurrection.  But  let  us  tell  our  brethren 
of  every  free  state  in  this  union,  if  they  continue  to  press 
this  matter  and  occasion  what  must  inevitably  ensue,  a 
union  of  vile  white  men  with  slaves,  to  accomplish  their 
ends !  the  coloured  race  now  in  America  will  be  blotted 
out  from  the  face  of  the  earth,  at  one  fell  stroke.  Every 
mother  and  every  daughter,  as  well  as  every  son  and 
every  father,  will  handle  the  instruments  of  death.  The 
flesh  of  the  slave  population  will  be  given  to  the  fowls  of 
heaven  for  food,  and  on  the  shores  of  the  rivers  and 
bays,  and  along  the  coasts,  will  every  inhabitant  stand,  a 
watchman  for  his  own  life,  saying  TO  ALL  THE  EARTH, 
"thus  far  shalt  thou  come  and  no  farther." 

But  it  becomes  us  to  assign  our  reasons,  why  the  lan 
guage  we  use  is  strong,  a  language  now  spoken  in  Mary 
land,  Virginia  and  all  the  South.  We  have  read  and 


141 

marked  what  Dr.  Charming  has  said,  and  we  make  a 
quotation  or  two,  to  show,  that  he  only  speaks  the  lan 
guage  of  his  abolition  associates.  In  the  report  of  this 
very  anti-slavery  society,  for  whom  Dr.  C.  writes,  and 
who  have  stereotyped  his  inflammatory  and  insurrectionary 
writings,  we  read  "it  is  time  the  friends  of  freedom  had 
awakened  from  their  disgraceful  slumbers.  The  truth  is 
and  it  must  not  be  suppressed,  we  have  been  hired  to  abet 
oppression,  to  be  the  tools  of  tyrants,  to  look  on  coolly 
whilst  two  millions  of  our  brethren  have  been  stripped  of 
every  right,  and  worse  than  murdered.  Solemnly  we  say 
and  we  stake  all  on  the  pledge  that  there  is  not  wealth 
enough  in  the  universe  any  longer  to  buy  our  acquiescence, 
in  this  base  and  abominable  subserviency."  "We  have 
met  together  for  the  achievement  of  an  enterprise,  with 
out  which  that  of  our  fathers  is  incomplete,  and  which 
for  its  magnitude,  solemnity  and  probable  results  upon 
the  destiny  of  the  world,  as  far  transcends  theirs,  as 
moral  truth  does  physical  force." 

So  then  abolitionism,  inducing  a  violation  of  the  federal 
constitution  made  by  our  fathers,  producing  a  servile 
war,  being  a  work  that  far  transcends  the  independence 
of  our  country,  the  work  of  our  fathers,  is  to  be  carried 
on  and  carried  out  any  how,  and  this  anti-slavery  society 
is  solemnly  bound  for  it.  To  use  their  own  words  "so 
lemnly  we  say  and  stake  our  all  on  the  pledge,  that  there 
is  not  wealth  enough  in  the  universe,  any  longer  to  buy 
our  acquiescence,  in  this  base  and  abominable  subser 
viency."  We  maintain  "that  the  highest  obligations," 
mark  this  reader !  "highest  obligations  rest  upon  the 
people  of  the  free  states,  to  remove  slavery  by  moral  and 
political  action."  Why?  they  say  "our  relation  to 
slavery  is  criminal  and  full  of  clanger,  and  must  be  broken 
up."  "To  bring  the  whole  nation  to  this  we  shall  spare 
no  exertions  nor  means"  "We  may  be  personally  defeat 
ed  ;  but  our  principles  never."  And  to  pretty  nearly  the 
same  effect  are  the  remarks  of  Judge  Jay,  "within  the  last 
two  years,"  says  that  gentleman,  "the  abolition  societies 
have  been  partially  SUCCEEDED  by  more  sturdy  associa 
tions,  named  anti-slavery  societies,  which  instead  of 
quailing  beneath  the  frowns  of  their  foe !  have  dared  to 
13 


142 

grapple  with  him  in  mortal  conflict,  and  to  stake  the 
hopes  of  freedom  on  the  issue."  Again  it  is  recommended 
that  Congress  "commence  the  work  of  emancipation  by 
immediately  abolishing  slavery  within  the  District  of 
Columbia"  For  "all  the  laws  which  are  now  in  force, 
admitting  the  rights  of  slavery  are,  before  God,  NULL 
AND  VOID,"  say  they. 

We  wish  our  readers  to  be  convinced  that  direct,  im 
mediate  emancipation  (unconditional  as  it  regards  the 
master,)  is  the  object  of  these  men,  and  that  England  inso 
lently  dares  to  unite  with  them  and  thus  subtilely  to  attack 
and  seek  to  divide  us.  Hear  Mr.  Buckingham,  a  mem 
ber  of  Parliament  :  "The  greater  proportion  of  the  people  of 
England  demand  not  merely  emancipation,  but  the  imme 
diate  emancipation  of  the  slaves  in  whatever  quarter  of  the 
world  they  may  be  found."  And  so  O'Connell,  the  no 
torious  disorganizer,  Daniel  O'Connell,  who  dared  to 
abuse  our  Washington,  the  father  of  his  country.  "The 
West  Indies,"  says  this  slanderer  of  Washington,  "the 
West  Indies  will  be  obliged  to  grant  emancipation,  and 
then  we  will  turn  to  AMERICA,  and  REQUIRE  EMANCIPA 
TION."  This  is  the  man  who  retained  by  his  country's 
oppressors,  spoke  in  a  large  assembly  and  wrote  and 
printed  this  morsel  too,  "when  an  American  comes  into 
society  he  will  be  asked,  'are  you  one  of  the  THIEVES, 
or  are  you  an  honest  man  ?  If  you  are  an  honest  man 
then  you  have  given  liberty  to  your  slaves  ;  if  you  are 
among  the  THIEVES  the  sooner  you  take  the  outside  of 
the  house  the  better.' >:  We  repeat,  this  is  the  man  re 
tained  by  the  oppressors  of  Ireland  for  £20,000  per 
annum. 

Having  now  finished  what  quotations  we  designed  to 
make,  to  prove  that  the  true  and  avowed  object  of  Dr. 
Channing  and  Judge  Jay,  the  American  abolitionists,  and 
the  English  anti-slavery  associations,  with  O'Connell  and 
the  peddling  lecturer,  Mr.  Buckingham,  at  their  head,  all 
look  to  and  claim  direct  and  immediate  emancipation, 
here,  in  our  midst.  The  unreasonableness  of  this  we 
now  propose  to  show,  by  considering  abolitionism  as 
fraught  with  consequences  so  repulsive  and  tremendous, 
as  to  leave  no  doubt  on  the  minds  of  considerate  chris- 


143 

tians  and  philanthropists  as  to  the  injustice  and  impolicy 
of  such  a  course,  as  well  as  the  immense  extent  of  that 
injury,  which  must  accrue  to  the  slaves  and  also  to  their 
masters.  Two  distinct  objects  are  virtually  avowed  in 
the  foregoing  quotations,  and  are  indeed  inculcated  in  all 
the  writings  of  the  abolitionists.  The  firsj  is  to  emanci 
pate  immediately  and_  directly  the  slave  population,  and 
the,  second  is  to  raisf  them  to  an  equality,  in  every  re 
spect,  wTTh  the  white  population  of  the  country,  to  an 
equality,  as  it  regards  civil,  social  and  all  other  privi 
leges.  Whatever  means  may  have  been  pointed  out  in 
the  commencement  by  abolitionists  to  accomplish  this 
end,  subsequent  events  have  proved,  that  they  look  to  all 
the  associations  and  connexions  of  human  life  with  the 
whites,  as  a  right  which  ought,  indeed  must  be  granted  to 
the  negroes. 

In  order  to  carry  out  this,  we  find  associated  bodies, 
societies,  and  whole  communities,  uniting  in  the  north,  in 
the  passage  of  various  resolutions,  to  put  down,  what  they 
call  a  prejudice  against  the  negro,  and  various  legislative 
bodies  seeking  to  interfere  in  the  question  of  slavery  and 
to  legalize,  by  law,  marriages  between  the  white  and 
coloured  races.  To  this,  so  far  as  they  and  their  daugh 
ters  and  sisters  are  concerned,  we  of  the  south  have  no 
right  to  object;  but  we  have  been  often  forced  to  ask 
what  is  the  matter?  Legislators  seem  so  deeply  con 
cerned  on  this,  apparently,  to  them,  very  interesting  sub 
ject.  As  it  respects  the  south  we  demur,  notwithstanding 
the  slander  of  abolitionists.  The  allusion  made  by  Dr. 
Channing,  to  a  spurious  amalgamation,  is  as  heartless  as 
it  is  vile.  We  do  not  even  admit,  what  those  who  write 
against  abolitionism  at  the  north,  seem  so  ready  to  charge 
that  a  concubinage  or  illicit  connexion,  with  female  slaves, 
grows  up  as  one  of  the  evils  of  slavery.  We  believe 
no  such  thing.  We  simply  believe  that  wherever  man 
exists  in  his  fallen  and  depraved  state,  whilst  a  slave  of 
passion,  and  unregenerate,  in  any  part  of  the  earth,  there 
will  be  whores  and  whore-mongers,  fornicators,  adulterers, 
and  adultresses,  without  regard  to  colour  or  consequences. 
We  have  known  some  who  came  from  the  north  to  the 
south,  and  under  promises  of  freeing  and  taking  off,  and 


144 

making  wives  of  coloured  women,  seduce  in  one  year, 
in  this  way  some  four  or  five.  At  last  consequences  en 
sued,  which  began  to  expose  them,  and  immediately  they 
were  off.  On  the  other  hand  we  have  heard  of  southern 
ers  deceiving  northern  white  girls,  and  we  have  known 
both  northerners  and  southerners  to  seduce  white  females 
in  the  south.  We  have  also  been  informed,  and  from 
sources  to  be  depended  on,  that  in  Philadelphia,  New 
York,  Boston  and  other  cities,  and  also  in  villages  and 
neighbourhoods,  it  is  common  to  have  houses  set  apart, 
and  kept  up  for  common  prostitutes  ;  near  some  of  them 
we  have  seen  carriages,  which  took  married  gentlemen, 
standing  in  broad  day-time ;  those  houses  were  repre 
sented  to  us,  as  places  of  ill-fame.  It  is  said  that  incon 
tinent  married  ladies,  sometimes  resort  thither  at  night. 
Shall  we  therefore  conclude,  that  all  the  north  is  of  the 
same  character?  There  are  comparatively  but  few  such 
examples  south;  although  Dr.  Channing  says  there  "the 
coloured  woman  is  forcibly  given  up  to  unbridled  lust," 
and  that  "the  violations  of  domestic  rights  and  charities 
are  all  revealed."  And  what  more  ?  Why  this  is  the 
origin  of  that"spurious  sort  of  amalgamation  whichis  going 
on  between  the  two  races,"  and  will  according  to  aboli 
tion  doctrines,  justify  that  union  between  them  by  marri 
age,  which  is  the  only  ground  upon  which  safety  could 
ever  be  expected  to  either. 

It  is  on  this  point  that  our  subsequent  remarks  in  this 
chapter  are  designed  to  bear.  The  outrageous  proposition 
to  accomplish  the  ends  of  these  abolitionists  or  anti- 
slavery  men,  is  set  forth  in  their  first  annual  report,  page 
59.  "Let  it  be  the  glory  of  our  sons  and  DAUGHTERS,  to 
have  been  educated  in  seminaries,  which  were  open  to 
worthy  applicants,  without  regard  to  complexion,  that  the 
next  generation  may  be  disenthralled,  from  these  narrow 
and  despicable  prejudices,  which  have  trammelled  the 
present/'  This  then  is  the  purpose,  and  the  plan  too,  by 
which  they  are  to  become  one  with  the  whites.  If  their 
unnatural  objects  can  be  attained,  the  next  generation, 
as  that  learned  and  popular  professor  and  author,  Dr. 
Reese  of  New  York,  has  suggested  in  reply  to  this  very 
point,  "will  have  potent,  yea,  omnipotent  reasons  for  be- 


145 

ing  'disenthralled ;'  for  we  should  then  be  a  nalion  of 
MULATTOES  and  MONGRELS."  There  is  no  execration 
too  great  for  such  vile  enthusiasts.  And  because  they 
see  and  know  that  intermarriage,  is  the  only  possible 
way,  in  which  two  distinct  races  can  become  one  nation, 
this  subject  has,  from  the  beginning,  been  broached  by 
them,  and  is  at  last  openly  avowed,  not  by  common  abo 
litionists  only,  but  virtually,  as  in  the  very  nature  of  their 
plan,  by  Dr.  Charming  and  Judge  Jay.  We  resist  it  then, 
because  this  union  is  most  repulsive  to  all  the  feelings  of 
the  whites.  The  fact  that  no  white  person  ever  did  con 
sent  to  marry  a  negro,  without  having  previously  forfeit 
ed  all  character  with  the  whites,  and  that,  even  profli 
gate  sexual  intercouse,  between  the  sexes,  every  where 
meets  with  the  execration  of  the  respectable  and  virtuous 
among  them,  as  the  most  despicable  form  of  licentious 
ness,  is  of  itself,  an  irrefragable  proof,  that  equality  in 
any  respect,  in  this  country,  is  neither  practicable  nor 
desirable.  Criminal  amalgamation  may,  and  does  exist, 
among  the  most  degraded  of  the  species,  but  Americans 
will  never  yield  the  sanctions  of  law  and  religion,  to  an 
equality  so  incongruous  and  unnatural.  There  is  a  line 
of  demarcation,  broad,  deep,  and  impassable.  The  God 
of  nature  has  drawn  it,  and  it  will  be  kept  up.  That 
strong  universal  repugnance  to  an  obliteration  of  it,  is 
but  a  striking  indication  of  the  divine  intentions  respect 
ing  the  same. 

Fanaticism,  as  one  has  said,  may  call  this  "unchris 
tian  prejudice,"  and  suppose  that  the  power  of  religion 
will  overcome  it  as  it  overcomes  infidelity.  It  may  argue 
that  God  has  "made  all  men  of  one  flesh,"  and  of  Chris 
tianity,  as  opening  its  arms  alike  to  all,  in  brotherly  love. 
But  whilst  we  admit  that  God  <;made  all  men  of  one 
flesh,"  we  deny  that  he  did  design  all  men  to  live  in  the 
same  country,  and,  notwithstanding  their  diversities,  to 
mix  and  incorporate.  With  respect  to  the  African,  we 
find  that  "the  temperature  of  his  blood,  the  chemical  ac 
tion  of  his  skin,  and  the  very  texture  of  his  wool-like 
hair,  fit  him  for  the  vertical  sun  of  Africa.  And  if  every 
surviving  African,  living  in  other  lands,  for  which  he 
never  was  intended,  was  restored  to  Africa,  or  left  on 
13* 


146 

the  shores  of  America,  and  exalted  to  the  highest  earthly 
condition,  it  would  not  remove  those  feelings  of  repulsion, 
felt  in  the  white  woman  to  any  social  union  with  him. 
It  does  not  matter  with  the  white  man,  how  happy  the 
negroes  are,  and  whether  they  are  happy  on  this  or  the 
other  side  of  the  Atlantic.  In  Christian  love  he  is  ready 
to  acknowledge  them  as  brothers,  glory  in  their  enlight 
enment,  and  rejoice  in  their  happiness.  But  it  does  mat 
ter,  when  you  talk  of  keeping  them  here  as  freemen  in 
our  midst,  to  become  the  owners  of  our  soil,  the  husbands 
and  wives  of  our  daughters  and  sons,  and  the  companions 
of  ourselves  and  our  wives.  Such  an  incorporation  is  in 
deed  morally  impossible.  We  should  remember  that  the 
whites  are  too  numerous  in  both  sexes,  to  be  driven  to 
intermarriage,  with  a  race  so  distinctly  separated  from 
ours.  The  distinction  in  the  United  States  is  chiefly 
white  or  black,  with  little  intervening  shades  of  colour. 
The  races  do  not,  and  never  can  incorporate.  Try  the 
loudest  advocates  of  the  mncibility  of  this  prejudice  with 
this  touch-stone.  Here  is  a  young  negress,  make  her  the 
wife  of  your  son.  Give  your  daughter  to  be  married, 
vour  lovely  and  accomplished  daughter,  to  a  broad-foot 
ed,  flat-nosed,  coal-black,  curly-headed,  strong-scented 
negro.  What  say  you,  my  abolition  friend  ?  What  say 
you,  Dr.  Channing?  What  say  you,  Judge  Jay?  Bring 
forward  your  son!  Out  with  your  daughter,  and  either 
shall  have  an  Angola- negro  before  night!  Ah!  this  "is 
ail  unchristian  prejudice,"  is  it?  Do  pray,  gentlemen, 
do  not  demur.  In  one  of  your  anti-slavery  reports  we 
read,  "There  is  no  way  to  destroy  the  prejudices,  which 
lay  at  the  foundation  of  slavery,  but  to  unite  our  coloured 
brethren  to  a  participation  with  us,  in  all  those  happy  and 
elevating  institutions,  which  are  open  to  others"  To  be 
sure,  marriage  is  one  of  those  happy  and  elevating  insti 
tutions  which  are  open  to  others.  A  man  by  it  may 
elevate  a  woman,  and  so  woman,  often,  as  did  Queen 
Victoria  Prince  Albert,  elevates  the  man  of  comparatively 
low  degree.  Let  then  your  sons,  and  daughters,  and  sis 
ters,  get  about  this  "great  work,"  for  we  are  told  by 
abolitionists,  "we  must  use  all  our  efforts  to  raise  the 
coloured  man."  This  amalgamation  will  split  the  differ- 


147 

ence,  and  make  "the  second  generation  neither  black  nor 
white,  but  all,  mulattoes" 

We  are  further  told  that  "it  is  indispensable"  "that  we 
unite  our  coloured  brethren,  to  a  participation  with  us," 
"to  all  our  social,  religious  and  political  privileges,"  and 
surely  marriage  comes  under  some  one  of  these  heads. 
We  repeat  the  remark,  gentlemen  do  not  demur !  La 
dies  come  on !  If  there  be  among  you  any  widows,  or 
widowers,  or  bachelors,  or  maids,  old  or  young,  or  if 
you  have  sons  or  daughters,  come  on,  bring  them  forth, 
you  are  bound  by  your  doctrine  uto  use  every  effort  to 
raise  and  elevate  the  coloured  brethren  to  a  participation" 
with  you  "in  all  thoss  happy  and  elevating  institutions, 
which  are  open  to  others."  For  ourselves,  really,  gentle 
men  and  ladies,  we  must  tell  you  plainly,  you  have  BET 
TER  STOMACHS  than  we  southerners.  However  we  have 
nothing  to  do  with  this,  we  are  willing  that  you  take  and 
elevate  as  partners  all  our  free  negroes  and  slaves  too, 
if  you  will  pay  for  them;  provided  you  walk  off  to  the 
vicinity  of  Dr.  Channing;  and  we  especially  encourage 
you  to  do  this,  as  "old  Massachusetts  that  threw  the  Brit 
ish  tea  overboard,  and  thus  struck  the  first  blow  to  Brit 
ish  tyranny  in  America,"  designs  a  special  act  for  your 
benefit,  to  legalize  all  your  marriages. 

But  let  it  be  remembered,  that  in  the  south,  almalgama- 
tion  will  never  be  legalized,  that  thus  the  negro  may  be 
"elevated,"1'  and  the  white  man  abased.  To  us  there  is 
something  too  repulsive  in  it.  Not  only  repulsive  be 
cause  "slavery  and  freedom  are  extremes,"  as  some  con 
tend,  but  because,  however  a  negro  may  become  enlight 
ened  by  education,  and  be  saved  from  sin  by  gospel 
grace,  and  be  under  the  power  of  its  religion,  God  has 
drawn  the  line  of  distinction,  and  beyond  it  nature  cannot 
consent  to  pass,  and  make  such  an  one  a  partner  for  life. 
Passion  may  seek  present  gratification,  in  union  with  a 
beast,  and  many  men  are  swayed  by  passion  only,  hence 
the  law  of  the  Old  Testament  and  of  civilized  nations, 
punishing  the  polluted  wretch  "that  lies  with  a  beast." 
So  passion  may  seek  in  moments,  when  it  is  uncon 
trolled,  a  present  gratification  with  the  negress;  but  the 
southern  white  man's  soul,  if  he  have  soul  at  all,  repels 


148 

in  itself,  and  abhors  the  thought,  of  taking  to  his  bo 
som  as  a  wife,  a  thick-lipped,  flat-nosed,  red-eyed,  curly- 
headed,  flat-footed  wench,  whose  very  smell  is  repul 
sive.  Still,  as  we  before  said,  we  do  not  object  to  such 
an  union  among  our  northern  brethren  and  sisters,  if  they 
choose  to  have  it  thus,  and  especially  so,  as  the  law  of 
Massachusetts  comes  in  to  help  them  out.  We  have 
heard  in  old  Virginia  a  saying.  Do,  abolition  brethren, 
pardon  us  for  quoting  it!  "Every  man"  (and  woman  too 
I  suppose.}  "to  his  liking,  as  the  old  lady  said,  when  she 
kissed  the  cow." 

But  to  be  serious,  "that  two  distinct  races  of  people 
nearly  equal  in  numbers,"  but  unlike  in  colour,  manners, 
habits,  feelings  and  state  of  civilization,  to  such  a  degree 
that  amalgamation  is  impossible,  cannot  dwell  together 
in  the  same  community,  unless  the  one  be  subject  to  the 
other,  is  most  apparent.  Whilst  the  exaltation  of  the 
coloured  race  as  just  spoken  of  is  brought  about,  it  does 
not  matter  by  what  means,  the  accomplishment  of  the 
thing  itself  is  identically  the  same.  The  dangerous  ten 
dency  of  such  efforts  must  be  manifest  to  all,  when  they 
look  at  the  issue  to  which  they  must  most  certainly  come. 
Nothing  is  better  attested,  as  already  noticed,  in  history, 
than  the  fact,  that  there  can  be  no  union  and  harmony  in 
any  country  where  there  is  a  rival  power,  that  is  not 
subordinate  to  the  one  ruling,  or  attempting  to  rule.  The 
time  was  when  the  church  claimed  to  be  independent 
of  the  throne,  and  especially  so  in  England.  What  was 
the  result  1  All  know  that  incessant  contention  was  pro 
duced  by  it.  Hence  there  was  in  the  government  virtu 
ally  no  individuality.  There  can  be  no  security,  unless 
there  is  the  conviction  of  durability,  in  any  government, 
and  there  can  be  no  durability,  where  an  incessant  watch 
is  to  be  kept  up  to  countervail  the  power  of  those  who 
would  upturn,  for  their  own  aggrandizement,  any  govern 
ment,  however  stable. 

So  long  as  the  Moors  possessed  a  part  of  Spain,  there 
was  an  incessant  struggle.  Why  was  it  so?  The  Moors 
were  most  certainly  subjected  to  the  power  of  the  Spanish 
monarchy.  True  !  But  the  lines  of  distinction  were  so 
marked,  that  there  could  be  no  safety  whilst  they  pos- 


149 

sessed  either  liberty  or  power,  in  Europe.  Hence  to 
Africa  it  was  deliberately  determined  they  should  go,  and 
to  Africa  they  were  driven;  the  end  is  well  known. 
Since  then,  so  far  as  Moors  and  Spaniards  are  concerned, 
what  is  now  called  Spain  proper,  has  been  at  rest.  And 
at  this  day  the  aborigines  of  America,  North  and  South, 
and  the  French  and  Spanish  inhabitants  of  Florida  for 
merly,  and  the  British  and  French  inhabitants  of  Canada, 
are  ail  of  them  most  palpable  illustrations  of  the  truth, 
that  any  distinct  line  of  separation  must  have  the  ten 
dency  to  prevent  amalgamation  itself,  and  when  there  is 
a  rival  power  and  interest,  it  is  equally,  if  not  far  more 
difficult  to  overcome  it.  The  Indian  must  be  free  and 
roam  at  will.  The  white  man  dreads  his  power,  and  both 
war  for  that  soil,  which  each  claims.  The  stronger  must 
and  does  prevail.  Nothing  can  stop  him.  He  takes  as 
the  motto  and  watch-word  of  safety,  that  of  the  old  Ro 
man,  "Carthago  delenda  est"  and  the  red  man  wastes 
before  him,  as  the  snows  at  the  approach  of  spring,  on 
his  own  extensive  and  native  mountains.  For  the  same 
reason,  the  cold-hearted,  calculating,  trading  Briton, 
looks  with  suspicion  and  jealousy,  on  the  lively,  vivacious 
Frenchman  of  Canada,  and  in  his  soul  purposes  that  he 
shall  one  day  or  other  bow  and  lick  the  dust.  On  the 
other  hand,  the  Frenchman  only  waits  a  proper  time,  to 
strike  his  blow. 

Two  judicious  gentlemen,  not  long  since,  when  on  a 
visit  to  the  United  States  from  Canada,  gentlemen  who 
are  extensively  acquainted  there,  informed  us,  that  al 
though  there  is  the  same  colour,  virtually  the  same  laws 
and  privileges,  yet  is  there  that  deadly  hate  existing 
between  the  French  and  English,  which  was  equalled  in 
Canada  only  by  that  of  the  Moors  and  Spaniards,  or  that 
of  Rome  and  Carthage.  There  being  no  oneness  of  in 
terest,  and  no  unanimity  of  sentiment  and  feeling,  there 
cannot  certainly  be  unity  of  effort  for  general  good,  or 
for  the  support  of  that  government,  which  grants  special 
privileges  to  some,  to  the  exception,  and  at  the  expense 
of  others. 

If  foreigners  be  brought  in,  as  is  the  case  in  the  United 
States,  and  be  grafted  on  the  parent  stock,  being  indeed 


150 

the  same  race,  and  coalescing  by  marriage,  they  become 
so  amalgamated  as  soon  to  exist  only  as  one  people.  But 
where  there  are  insuperable  obstacles,  and  a  repulsion  of 
feeling,  as  in  the  case  of  the  African,  or  a  separate  and 
distinct  interest  and  language,  all  which  occasion  an 
eternal  rivalship,  it  is  evident  there  can  be  no  union.  For 
a  foreign  mass  in  the  midst  of  a  nation,  with  which  they 
cannot  unite,  is  as  a  dead  limb  on  a  green  tree,  it  injures 
that  tree,  and  is  not  itself  benefited.  Is  not  this  the  case 
with  thousands  of  Indians,  in  the  various  states,  where 
they  remain  under  the  constraints  of  the  white  man's 
laws,  and  yet  are  neither  improved  or  benefited  thereby. 
Look  how  long  the  Six  Nations,  and  the  Sandusky  In 
dians,  and  the  Choctaws  of  Mississippi,  and  others  did 
remain  within  the  borders  of  several  states,  surrounded 
with  all  the  benefits  of  civilization;  and  yet  were  uncivil 
ized,  and  not  amalgamated  with  the  white  population. 
Look  at  the  Indians  on  the  Pamunky  and  Matopony 
rivers  of  Virginia,  who,  notwithstanding  the  example 
set  by  the  excellent  Mr.  Rolfe,  and  the  lovely  Pocahontas, 
who  were  united  in  marriage,  to  this  day  remain  a  hand 
ful,  gradually  wasting  away,  and  hardly  a  monument 
sufficient  to  bring  to  memory  the  renowned  and  benevo 
lent  Powhatan,  or  the  brave  but  cruel  Opechancanough. 

Look  at  the  Jews,  driven  from  Rome,  forced  out  of 
Greece,  and  again  and  again  from  all  the  East.  Near 
two  hundred  thousand  at  one  time  were  expelled  from 
Spain.  Driven  from  France,  slaughtered  in  London  and 
other  cities  of  England,  refusing  to  let  their  sons  and 
daughters  amalgamate,  by  marriage,  with  others,  they 
remain  a  separate  and  distinct  nation,  accursed  by 
heaven  and  earth,  as  "having  crucified  the  Lord  of  life 
and  glory."  Whilst  the  Ottoman  is  enriched  by  his  traffic, 
he  abhors  the  Jew,  who  puts  his  mark  of  reprobation  aho 
on  him. 

It  is  to  us  a  most  astonishing  thing,  that  men  can  sup 
pose  that  there  can  be  such  a  union,  without  a  similarity 
of  feeling,  of  interest  and  of  language.  The  Jew  may 
buy  and  so  may  the  Turk,  and  use  as  concubines  girls 
caUed  Christians,  but  they  will  not  exalt  them  to  the  con 
dition  of  wives.  The  white  man  may,  in  a  similar  way, 


151 

seduce,  to  gratify  his  passions,  a  coloured  girl,  but  he 
will  never  exalt  her  to  be  his  wife,  any  more  than  would 
a  Jew  the  daughter  of  a  Turk,  or  that  of  a  Christian ;  or 
an  Indian,  who  repels  with  indignation  the  idea,  of  mar 
riage  with  a  negress,  as  repulsive,  truly  as  much  so  to  his 
savage  heart  and  feelings  as  to  those  of  the  most  refined 
associates  of  the  learned  Dr.  Channing,  or  the  Hon.  Mr. 
Jay.  How  then  could  it  be  expected  that  a  union  should 
take  place  between  two  races,  the  one  white,  the  other 
black,  the  one  civilized,  refined,  wealthy  and  perfectly 
independent  in  all  its  feelings  and  views — the  other  but 
just  emancipated,  poor,  ignorant,  servile  in  all  its  dispo 
sitions  and  movements,  and  ready  to  act  and  accomplish 
great  things,  only  as  directed  by  the  wisdom  and  advice 
of  others.  In  such  a  state  of  society,  laws  for  the  com 
fort,  convenience  and  protection  of  the  one,  would  be  but 
an  insult,  a  source  of  affliction  and  disgrace  to  the  other, 
because  in  the  very  nature  of  things,  there  could  be  no 
ONENESS  in  such  a  state  or  country.  But  as  it  now  is, 
the  master  is  protected,  and  his  servant's  welfare  is  also 
connected  with,  and  guarded  through  that  master,  just  as 
protection  is  afforded  by  the  same  law,  to  the  master's 
wife,  child  and  person.  So  then  when  one  part  of  a  com 
munity  is  virtually  in  subjection  to  the  other,  not  by  mere 
brute  force,  but  by  the  force  of  circumstances,  where 
subjection  has  its  origin  in  "the  natural  subordination  of 
the  weak,  the  ignorant  and  uncivilized,  to  those  that  are 
the  reverse,  there  may  be,  yea  all  history,  and  the  condi 
tion  of  every  man's  family,  proves  that  there  must  be  an 
union  and  harmony,  of  both  interest  and  feeling  ;  and  as 
the  master  becomes  the  servant's  protector  and  faithful 
representative,  his  condition  not  permitting  him  to  repre 
sent  himself,  that  servant  becomes  his  master's  friend, 
and  glories  in  abiding  by  his  exaltation  or  downfall,  at 
the  hazard  of  his  life.  Servants  are  proud  of  such  a 
master.  They  delight  to  watch  over  and  nurse  his  wife, 
his  children,  and  those  children  in  their  turn,  often  reward 
that  kindness  by  freedom  from  toil,  confidence  unlimited, 
and  on  those  servants,  when  their  parents  are  in  the  dust, 
they  often  implicitly  rely  for  advice,  most  cheerfully  sub 
mitting  to  their  reproofs,  as  well  as  to  their  teachings. 


152 

We  never  can  forget  that  when  our  own  helpless  mother 
could  not  nurse  us  and  an  only  brother,  it  was  faithfully 
done  by  a  coloured  woman,  whom  to  this  day  we  delight, 
to  call  "MAMMY."  The  husband  and  children  of  such  a 
woman  are,  under  such  circumstances,  generally  dear  to 
a  whole  family.  From  that  husband  the  master  and  his 
children  often  seek  advice  in  most  of  the  business  opera 
tions  of  their  lives.  But  these  children  could  never  raise 
the  offspring  of  the  coloured  man  to  a  participation  with 
them,  of  the  social  privileges  of  life.  They  could  not 
make  them  their  wrives  and  their  husbands. 

That  our  position  is  a  correct  one  we  are  sure;  and 
that  any  sudden  exaltation  of  slaves,  or  any  deliverance, 
other  than  one  which  is  gradual,  and  almost  impercepti 
ble,  is  ruinous  in  its  consequences.  We  have  a  case  spe 
cially  in  point.  The  Israelites  are  in  bondage  in  Egypt. 
They  are  there  gradually  prepared  for  their  transit  from 
that  state  of  bondage,  to  the  condition  of  freemen.  And 
yet  the  journey  from  Egypt  must  be  at  least  forty  years 
long,  until,  by  absolute  want  and  dependance,  they  are 
trained  and  prepared  for  their  residence  in  the  promised 
land;  and  even  after  that,  the  "iron  rod"  by  their  kings, 
and  a  second  captivity,  in  Babylon,  could  hardly  prepare 
them  for  self-government.  But  novices  in  political  eco 
nomy,  would  have  us  turn  loose  three  millions  of  slaves, 
unprepared  for  such  a  direct  and  immediate  transition 
from  a  state  of  bondage  to  that  of  freedom,  and  ennoble 
them  to  be  our  equals — the  wives  and  husbands  of  our 
children,  and  the  owners  of  our  property.  The  son  of  a 
freed  man  in  Rome,  because  of  his  being  of  the  same 
colour  with  its  inhabitants,  might  become  a  citizen;  but 
here  is  a  separating  line  which  we  did  not  draw.  God 
has  done  it.  And  although  it  does  by  no  means  affect 
the  moral  standing  of  the  parties  interested,  yet  does  it 
form  a  barrier,  that  no  time  can  remove,  between  the 
white  and  coloured  race.  When  one  people  are  con 
quered  and  subjugated  by  another,  there  never  can  be  a 
oneness,  unless  they  become  one,  by  marriage ;  otherwise 
there  can  be  no  harmonious  blending  of  the  two.  If  this 
be  not  done,  it  is  extirpation,  removal,  or  slavery,  and 
perhaps  both  of  the  last  named  evils.  If  the  Israelites,  to 


153 

\vhom  we  have  just  alluded,  had  intermarried  with  the 
Egyptians,  they  would  have  become  one  people.  But 
according  to  their  patriarchal  precepts,  about  circumci 
sion  and  other  rites  on  the  one  hand,  and  the  fact  that 
Egyptians  considered  themselves  polluted  by  associations 
with  foreigners,  on  the  other,  they  did  not  unite.  In  time, 
although  they  actually  out  numbered  their  masters,  the 
Israelites  as  we  have  seen,  were  the  most  abject  slaves, 
being  reduced  not  only  to  toil;  but  removed,  often  from 
one  part  of  that  ancient  empire  to  another,  they  were 
forced  to  erect  for  their  masters  the  pyramids  and  laby 
rinths,  those  vast  works,  which  seem  almost  destined  to 
survive  the  waste  of  old  time  itself.  To  accomplish 
which,  Pharaoh  ''set  over  them  task-masters."  But  when 
free  they  do  not  demand  even  the  country  of  Goshen, 
originally  given  to  their  father  Jacob,  and  brother  Joseph, 
much  less  to  be  raised  to  equal  rights  and  privileges  with 
any  Egyptian.  They  most  cheerfully  gather  about  them 
their  families  and  go  to  dwell  in  the  land  given  to  their 
fathers. 

When  the  abolitionists  will  unite  with  the  Colonization 
Society,  to  bear  off  these  sons  of  Africa  also,  to  their 
fatherland,  they  wrill  find,  as  they  may  now  see,  if  they 
will  see  at  all,  all  the  South  ready  to  insure  that  their 
removal  shall  be  accomplished  in  at  least  "forty  years." 
There  could  have  been  no  harmony  between  the  Egyp 
tians  and  Israelites,  in  that  land  of  their  captivity,  much 
less  could  they  all  have,  and  there  exercise,  equal  rights 
and  privileges.  And  so  also,  when  the  Israelites  entered 
the  land  of  Canaan,  the  condition  of  its  inhabitants  was 
death  or  slavery.  If  asked  why  ?  we  answer,  for  the 
simple  reason  that  there  could  be  no  amalgamation  by 
marriage.  The  two  nations  were  so  far  asunder,  in  their 
mental,  moral,  and  political  condition,  that  the  inequality 
was  too  great  to  admit  a  union,  and  hence  there  could  be 
none.  We  know  that  this  was  the  reason. 

It  is  declared  in  Scripture  that  Ruth,  a  Moabitish  girl, 
and  her  sister,  married  Israelitish  youths,  which  might  be 
done,  when  there  were  those  moral  and  other  qualifica 
tions,  which  would  produce  a  union.  Nor  is  there  any 
objection  that  can  be  drawn  from  this  against  our  theory. 
14 


154 

It  is  said  God  commanded  all  this  ?  So  much  the  better  1 
Infinite  wisdom  has  given  us  an  example,  which  it  be 
hooves  us  to  imitate;  and  we  are  glad  to  know  that  in 
the  divine  proceeding  in  this  case,  there  was  no  infringe 
ment  of  the  law  and  constitution  of  our  nature.  So  far 
from  this,  his  dispensations  are  most  evidently  accommo 
dated  to  our  nature.  The  feelings  of  pleasure  or  repulsion, 
are  those  which  he  has  himself  implanted  in  us.  We  dare 
not  deal  lightly  by  them  ;  if  we  do,  marriage  itself  would 
ultimately  be  null  and  void — it  would  produce  a  hell  upon 
earth,  and  the  married  life  would  be  but  "the  same  sad 
tale  of  Rachel  and  Leah  to  the  end  of  all  time." 

If  we  look  at  the  Saxon  government  in  England,  we 
shall  find  that  it  originated  in  this  very  principle.  The 
ancient  Britons  called  in  the  Saxons  to  their  help.  In 
appearance,  religion,  &c.  they  were  about  equal.  After 
they  had  aided  the  Britons  in  effecting  their  deliverance 
from  the  Picts  and  Scots,  they  turned  about  to  obtain 
their  pay,  by  depredations  on  their  employers.  What 
was  the  result?  War  upon  war,  blood,  carnage  and 
death,  until  a  remnant  of  Britons  find  themselves  in  the 
mountains  of  Wales,  deprived  of  their  country,  and  their 
all.  Mortal  hatred  prevented  an  amalgamation  by  mar 
riage,  as  it  now  does  in  France  between  the  Jews  and 
French,  and  as  it  did  formerly  among  the  Jews  and  Ca- 
naanites,  and  the  Moors  and  Spaniards.  This  will  be  the 
result,  no  matter  in  what  the  difference  and  distinctness 
may  arise,  whether  in  natural  repulsion,  political,  moral, 
or  indeed  even  "imaginary  considerations,"  as  some  abo 
litionists  say,  it  is  all  one — the  end  is  subjection  or  death, 
perhaps  both.  One  must  yield ;  both  cannot  rule,  unless 
they  could  become  one  by  marriage.  This  is  impossible* 
It  was  so  between  England  and  Scotland,  though  the 
latter  was  over-run  by  the  former  several  times,  yet  till 
they  were  almost  destroyed,  they  would  not  yield.  Amal 
gamation  might  have  done  it  at  once.  Hatred  prevented. 
It  is  so  now  with  the  Christian  and  Turk. 

We  have  alluded  to  the  Indians.  Look  at  them  in 
Pennsylvania.  Long  did  they  dwell  side  by  side  together 
with  the  white  man;  but  there  was  no  intermarriage,  they 
never  became  one.  Mutual  fears  often  existed,  and 


155 

finally  the  entire  removal  of  one  was  absolutely  neces 
sary  to  the  existence  and  safety  of  the  other.  And  there 
was  such  mortal  opposition  in  New  England,  to  becom 
ing  one  by  marriage,  the  only  way  of  permanent  union, 
that  the  poor  Indians  found  themselves  involved  in  inces 
sant  wars,  with  the  pilgrims,  at  least  with  the  sons  of 
the  pilgrims,  until  they  wasted  away  and  are  gone, 
through  a  war,  in  which  the  choice  was  slavery  or  death. 
And  the  Indians  in  New  England  were  consumed,  as  the 
ice  in  their  lakes  before  the  summer  sun. 

There  was  no  repulsion  in  the  feelings  of  the  Virgi 
nian,  Rolfe,  before  named,  to  the  beautiful  Pocahontas, 
hut  his  example  was  not  followed,  because  there  were 
but  few  prepared  in  her  father's  house,  or  father's  tribe, 
to  become  the  associates  of  civilized  man,  and  because 
it  could  not  otherwise  be  so ;  because  they  did  not  be 
come  one  by  marriage,  the  result  is  a  lamentable  one 
indeed — the  Indian  when  he  has  been  permitted  to  live, 
which  has  generally  been  the  case  in  the  South,  has 
passed  from  place  to  place,  still  penetrating  the  thick  dark 
wilderness  in  quest  of  game,  flying  before  the  progress 
of  civilization,  and  making  room  for  those  with  whom  he 
could  not  become  one.  Now  seated  on  the  west  side  of 
the  Mississippi,  he  stands  a  living  monument  of  the  truth 
of  this  theory — that  there  must  be  amalgamation  to  be 
union.  At  this  day  who  will  condemn  the  beautiful 
English  girl  of  London,  for  marrying  the  pious  and  elo 
quent  Indian  chief,  and  Christian  minister,  Peter  Jones, 
whom  she  so  ardently  loved,  as  to  leave  her  country  and 
friends,  and  all.  By  him  this  accomplished  lady  now  has 
one  or  two  fine  interesting  little  children,  as  had  Poca 
hontas,  "of  blessed  memory,"  by  Mr.  Rolfe,  the  progeni 
tors  of  some  of  the  first  families  in  Virginia.  And  would 
any  among  us  now  blame  a  young  man  for  marrying  one 
of  those  lovely  young  nymphs  of  the  forest,  one  of  the 
virtuous  daughters  of  the  red  man,  civilized  and  raised 
to  be  an  "helpmate  meet  for  him?"  O  no  !  O  no !  But 
let  me  ask  what  you  would  say  if  such  an  one  should 
marry  a  negress?  Have  you  no  feeling  on  this  subject? 
Is  there  no  repulsion  ?  We  wish  we  knew  whether  Dr. 
G.  is  married  or  single ;  if  the  latter  be  his  miserable 


156 

lot,  we  would  put  such  questions  to  him  directly.  It  is 
said  that  "prejudice"  originates  these  antipathies.  We 
deny  it.  They  are  interwoven  in  our  nature,  and  cannot 
be  obliterated  even  by  passion,  unless  we  can  unmake 
ourselves.  Man  is  said  to  be,  we  know  woman  is,  a 
creature  of  longings  and  antipathies,  and  until  a  white 
woman  brings  herself  to  be  vile  indeed,  she  cannot  be 
reduced  to  become  the  willing  mate  of  a  coal  black  negro. 
We  intend  no  insult  to  northern  ladies ;  we  believe  this 
doctrine  from  the  very  bottom  of  our  soul,  and  we  are 
sure  that  we  have  the  ladies  on  our  side. 

When  Robert  of  England  was  supplanted  by  his  brother 
Henry  I.,  that  young  man,  with  a  policy  that  did  honour 
to  his  knowledge  of  human  nature,  immediately  married 
Matilda,  one  of  the  royal  Saxon  line,  by  Edgar  Atheling, 
and  notwithstanding  the  claims  of  his  elder  brother,  this 
act  secured  him  both  power  and  the  throne.  This  being 
carried  out  by  his  subjects,  ended  the  long  and  destruc 
tive  contest,  between  Normans  and  Saxons.  Thus  also, 
Alexander,  by  a  politic  stroke  in  marrying  Roxanna,  the 
daughter  of  Darius,  secured  to  himself  the  Persian  throne. 
So  also  was  it  the  case  with  the  Sabines  in  Rome.  The 
Romans  having  married  their  daughters,  although  they 
had  one  hundred  senators,  they  actually  lost  their  name, 
and  by  that  very  amalgamation,  the  two  became  one  peo 
ple,  under  the  general  name  of  Roman.  So  that,  what 
William  Duke  of  Normandy  could  not  complete,  when  he 
conquered,  as  it  is  said,  England,  nor  the  Sahines  and 
Romans,  as  men,  was  done  at  once  through  the  instru 
mentality  of  woman,  in  the  very  natural  and  appropriate 
way  of  the  Bible — "they  shall  no  longer  be  twain  but  one 
flesh."  We  presume  this  is  the  reason  why  abolitionists 
are  such  great  sticklers  for  amalgamation,  any  how.  They 
know  that  no  power  can  make  us  one  with  the  negro,  in 
the  same  land,  but  that  of  marriage,  and  therefore  we 
hear  from  them — "Let  it  be  the  glory  of  our  sons  and 
daughters,  to  have  been  educated  in  seminaries  which 
were  open  to  worthy  applicants,  without  regard  to  com 
plexion,  that  the  next  generation  may  be  disenthralled 
from  those  narrow  and  despicable  prejudices  which  have 
trammelled  the  present."  This  is  the  abolition  doctrine, 


157 

and  it  is  founded  in  nature.  Without  amalgamation,  we 
cannot  become  one  people.  They  see  it,  they  know  it. 
They  do  not,  we  suppose,  desire  it  themselves — perhaps 
they  do — they  however,  it  is  certain,  wish  to  force  it  on 
us,  by  insisting  that  we  turn  our  slaves  loose  in  the  land 
of  our  fathers,  and  raise  them  to  an  equality,  social, 
moral  and  political,  with  ourselves,  or  they  wish  to  force 
us,  as  one  has  said,  into  "the  very  crater  of  a  volcano." 
This  is  the  tendency  of  their  doctrine.  When  Gaul  was 
over-run  by  the  politic  Clovis,  to  secure  himself  in  his 
power,  he  first  married  Clotilda,  the  daughter  of  one  of 
the  native  princes,  professed  Christianity  through  her 
instrumentality,  and  exalted  the  native  Gauls  to  be  the 
bishops  of  their  church.  For  the  same  reason  also,  Alaric 
married  the  sister  of  Honorius,  and  thus  entered  into 
treaty  with  him.  The  policy  of  all  the  barbarian  con 
querors  of  that  time,  was  to  amalgamate  with  the  con 
quered  nations,  and  of  that  act  the  languages  of  Europe 
at  this  day  are  a  living  monument. 

In  the  preceding  part  of  this  book  we  have  quoted, 
repeatedly,  portions  from  a  work  entitled  Domestic  Sla 
very,  by  our  valued  friend,  John  L.  Carey,  M.  A.  lately 
of  Dickinson  College,  and  now  editor  of  the  Baltimore 
American.  We  hereby  recommend  it  to  the  perusal  of 
every  individual,  who  may  desire  a  fair  and  an  intelligent 
exposition  of  this  subject,  in  connection  with  the  great 
and  interesting  question  of  colonization.  We  cannot, 
however,  forbear  quoting  verbatim,  Mr.  Carey  on  the 
destruction  of  the  whites,  by  the  blacks  in  the  island  of 
St.  Domingo.  And  as  we  shall  allude  hereafter  to  the 
present  state  of  that  island,  we  take  great  pleasure  in 
laying  before  our  readers,  the  most  excellent  remarks 
of  our  kind  friend,  to  whom  the  South  is  greatly  indebted 
for  his  defence  of  its  principles,  and  the  more  so  as  Mr. 
C.  is  from  one  of  the  free  states,  a  man  that  looks  at 
truth  as  truth,  and  is  to  be  turned  from  those  convictions 
produced  by  its  power,  by  no  man,  or  set  of  men,  or 
sectional  or  party  considerations.  Let  then  the  reader, 
and  especially  let  the  southerner,  if  he  be  the  reader,  hear 
attentively  what  Mr.  C.  says :  "I  know  not  that  there 
is  any  need  of  dwelling  longer  on  this  topic.  There  is, 
14* 


158 

however,  one  other  illustration,  which  might  have  been 
brought  forth  in  the  list  of  these  examples  of  nations  that 
were  too  far  dissociated  ever  to  unite,  and  who  of  con 
sequence  could  not  participate  together  in  political  mat 
ters.  It  may,  however,  be  none  the  worse  for  corning  in 
here,  inasmuch  as  it  is  especially  applicable,  more  than 
any  other  example  in  history,  to  our  particular  concerns: 
the  parties  being  similar  to  those  that  now  occupy  the 
southern  portion  of  this  country,  viz.  whites  and  blacks. 
An  advocate  of  the  abolition  doctrines  thus  speaks,  in 
referring  to  the  disturbances  of  St.  Domingo,  'The  apo 
logists  of  slavery  are  constantly  telling  abolitionists  of  the 
^Scenes  of  St.  Domingo.'  Were  the  public  familiar  with 
the  origin  and  history  of  those  scenes,  none  but  abolition 
ists  would  dare  to  refer  to  them/  I  give  the  origin  and 
history  in  the  words  of  this  writer.  In  1790,  the  popula 
tion  of  the  French  part  of  St.  Domingo  was  estimated  at 
686,000.  Of  this  number  42,000  were  whites,  44,000 
free  people  of  colour,  and  600,000  slaves.  At  the  com 
mencement  of  the  French  revolution  the  free  coloured 
people  petitioned  the  National  Assembly  to  be  admitted 
to  political  rights,  and  sent  a  deputation  to  Paris  to  attend 
to  their  interests.  On  the  8th  of  March,  1790,  a  law  was 
passed  granting  to  the  colonies  the  right  of  holding  repre 
sentative  assemblies,  and  of  exercising  to  a  certain  extent 
legislative  authority.  On  the  28th  of  the  same  month, 
another  law  was  passed,  declaring  that  all  free  persons 
in  the  colonies,  who  were  proprietors  and  .residents  of 
two  years'  standing,  and  who  contributed  to  the  exigen 
cies  of  the  state,  should  exercise  the  right  of  voting.  The 
planters  insisted  that  this  law  did  not  apply  to  free  co 
loured  persons.  They  proceeded  to  elect  a  General 
Assembly,  and  in  this  election  the  free  blacks  were,  with 
but  few  exceptions,  prevented  from  voting.  The  newly 
elected  assembly  issued  a  manifesto,  declaring  they  would 
rather  die  than  divide  their  political  rights  with  'a  bastard 
and  degenerated  race.'  A  portion  of  the  free  coloured 
people  resolved  to  maintain  the  rights  given  them  by  the 
mother  country,  and  assembled  in  arms,  under  one  of 
their  number,  named  <Oge.' 

It  is  not  my  purpose  to  speculate  concerning  the  merits 


159 

of  this  question,  nor  attempt  an  interpretation  of  the  act 
of  the  French  national  assembly.  It  is  enough  to  know 
that  not  any  act  of  that  assembly,  or  of  any  other  legis 
lative  body,  could  have  brought  about  a  harmonious  par 
ticipation  of  political  privileges  between  these  parties. 
I  believe  it  would  not  be  easy  to  find  a  more  complete 
illustration,  than  may  be  found  here,  of  the  proposition 
which  I  have  been  endeavoring  to  set  forth.  Here  are 
two  distinct  races  nearly  equal  in  numbers;  the  whites 
amounting  to  42,000,  the  free  blacks  to  44,000;  they  are 
disjoined  by  differences  of '-colour,  of  blood,  of  condition; 
they  are  animated,  the  one  towards  the  other,  by  all 
those  feelings  of  antipathy  which  are  natural  to  such  dis 
similitude.  What  makes  it  more  adapted  to  our  purpose, 
one  class  had  been  in  a  state  of  servitude  to  the  other. 
Could  a  more  exact  picture  be  drawn  of  what  wrould  in 
all  likelihood  be  our  condition,  if  the  mad  attempt  should 
be  made  of  introducing  negroes  to  an  equality  of  political 
rights  in  some  one  of  the  cotton-growing  states?  Who 
does  not  see  that  the  French  population  of  St.  Domingo 
were  only  following  the  natural  instinct  of  self-preserva 
tion,  in  thus  resisting  all  demands  of  the  other  race  in 
the  way  of  admittance  to  citizenship?  Could  they  have 
harmonized  together  in  the  public  councils?  would  their 
objects  have  been  the  same,  or  in  any  way  parallel  ? 
from  the  vast  body  of  six  hundred  thousand  slaves  would 
there  have  been  no  accessions  to  the  free  coloured  party, 
which  was  already  superior  in  number  by  two  thousand  ? 
Or  not  the  first  act  of  legislation  have  been  a  decree  of 
universal  emancipation,  when  by  such  measure  the  ques 
tion  of  predominance  would  have  been  settled  at  once? 
And  what  would  have  followed  this,  but  the  utter  exter 
mination  of  all  who  were  of  European  origin  ?  What 
does  Mr.  Jay  mean,  when  he  says,  "If  the  public  were 
familiar  with  the  history  and  origin  of  those  scenes,  none 
but  abolitionists  would  dare  to  refer  to  them?"  Does  he 
mean  to  applaud  the  efforts  of  the  blacks  in  thus  seizing 
upon  what  they  deemed  their  rights  ?  Does  he  regard 
the  subsequent  horrors  and  butcheries  that  closed  this 
catastrophe,  in  the  banishment  or  murder  of  a  whole 
race,  in  the  plunder  of  property,  in  the  wildest  rage  of 


160 

licentious  and  bloody  passions,  does  he  regard  all  these 
as  the  fit  awards  of  retributive  justice?  And  are  we  to 
believe  that  he  would  behold  with  equal  satisfaction  a 
similar  scene  in  this  country?  Why  "none  but  abolition 
ists  dare  refer  to  them?"  Is  it  from  this  picture  of  hor 
rors  that  the  abolitionists  draw  their  elements  of  the  su 
blime  and  beautiful  in  political  morality  ?  Can  none  but 
abolitionists  dare  refer  to  them,  lest  they  be  struck  with 
terror  at  the  apprehension  of  a  like  calamity  at  home? 
What  means  he?  or  what  means  he  not?  I  wish  he  had 
nut  used  such  words.  The  negro  slaves  of  the  British 
West  Indies  have  been  emancipated,  some  on  condition 
of  serving  out  an  apprenticeship;  others,  I  believe,  with 
out  such  condition.  In  neither  case  have  disturbances 
followed.  It  is  usual  to  point  to  this  example  as  a  fact 
which  overturns  all  theories  concerning  the  ultimate  fatal 
effects  of  emancipation  in  this  country.  There  is  nothing 
surprising  in  this,  that  a  race  naturally  indolent,  having 
few  inducements  to  exertion,  should  sit  down  in  repose 
after  being  released  from  extorted  toil.  They  are  not  a 
people  who  can  appreciate  freedom,  except  as  it  affords 
exemption  from  labour :  they  have  little  of  that  inward 
ardour  which  springs  from  a  consciousness  of  intellec 
tual  or  moral  power;  which  prompts  to  enterprise; 
which  delights  in  activity;  which  pants  after  indepen 
dence.  The  casting  off  of  their  fetters  has  not  made 
them  freemen,  although  it  may  be  a  step  towards  it. 
But  in  process  of  time,  when  the  pleasures  of  indolence 
have  been  enjoyed  to  satiety,  a  spirit  of  activity  may 
come  into  play.  Gradually  there  may  arise  a  better 
class  among  the  blacks,  who  will  possess  property,  and 
along  with  it  a  sense  of  self-respect,  and  a  consciousness 
of  new  rights.  They  will  claim  to  have  a  part  in  the 
public  affairs;  they  will  demand  an  equal  participation 
in  the  rights  of  suffrage  and  of  legislation.  Then  the  con 
test  will  begin.  Who  may  not  see  the  issue  of  it  ?  It 
requires  not  any  great  amount  of  prophetic  vision  to  dis 
cern  that  at  some  period,  how  distant  we  know  not,  the 
scenes  of  St.  Domingo  will  be  re-acted  on  the  plains  of 
Jamaica.  I  look  by  the  light  of  reason  and  experience. 
There  may  be,  however,  secondary  causes  at  work  of 


161 

which  I  am  ignorant,  that  shall  produce  a  different  result. 
For  example,  amalgamation  of  colours  may  go  on  to  such 
a  degree,  that  the  individuality  of  the  European  stock 
may  be  diffused  throughout  a  hundred  different  complex 
ions  and  shades,  in  such  a  manner  as  to  be  well  nigh  lost. 
In  such  case  the  ascendency  of  the  blacks  may  be  peace 
able.  But  every  indication  at  present  points  to  the  final 
predominance  of  that  colour.  Whether  it  be  effected  by 
violence,  or  by  a  gradual  course  of  amalgamation,  must 
depend  upon  many  circumstances.  Or  this  result  of 
things  in  their  natural  course  may  be  anticipated.  It 
would  require  not  many  of  our  modern  philanthropists  to 
bring  about  a  speedier  consummation.  Let  the  ignorant 
negroes  be  indoctrinated  with  notions  of  the  rights  of 
man;  let  them  be  taught  that  all  men  are  equal;  that 
those  who  once  held  them  in  bondage,  and  who  now 
reside  among  them  in  splendour,  are  their  oppressors, 
proud  aristocrats,  who  live  upon  other  men's  earnings; 
above  all,  let  them  be  instructed  to  know,  that  by  union 
and  a  concentration  of  their  strength,  they  may  enjoy 
the  plunder  of  the  whole  land ;  that  this  will  be  nothing 
more  than  the  reclaiming  of  their  rightful  property,  and 
the  restoring  of  things  to  their  proper  equality ;  let  these 
doctrines  be  infused  into  depraved  minds,  to  the  arousing 
of  dormant  passions,  giving  stability,  pretext,  aim ;  the 
issue  will  be  a  thing  not  to  be  spoken  of  prophetically, 
but  to  be  gazed  upon  with  horror.  I  do  not  presume 
that  any  violent  commotions  would  immediately  follow 
an  act  of  general  emancipation  in  this  country;  that  is, 
if  foreign  influences  could  be  kept  away.  But  the  results 
of  things  are  not  less  sure  by  being  more  distant.  When 
the  tendency  is  apparent,  who  need  be  in  doubt  concern 
ing  the  end? 

That  I  may  not  in  any  manner  misrepresent  the  mean 
ing  of  abolitionists,  let  me  here  quote  again  from  Mr. 
Jay.  After  denying  the  charge  of  proposing  to  bring 
about  amalgamation  by  means  of  intermarriages,  he  says, 
"But  most  true  it  is,  that  the  Anti-slavery  Society  avows 
its  intentions  to  labour  for  the  civil  and  religious  equality 
of  the  blacks.  It  has  been  found  expedient  to  accuse  it 
of  aiming  also  at  their  social  equality."  This  charge  he 


162 

rejects,  and  proceeds  to  illustrate  his  meaning  in  this  man 
ner:  "We  all  know  white  men  whose  characters  and 
habits  render  them  repulsive  to  us,  and  whom  no  consi 
deration  would  induce  us  to  admit  into  our  social  circles ; 
and  can  it  be  believed,  that  abolitionists  are  willing  to 
extend  to  negroes,  merely  on  account  of  their  colour, 
courtesies  and  indulgences  which  in  innumerable  in 
stances,  they  withhold,  and  properly  withhold,  from  their 
white  fellow-citizens  1  But  who  pretends  that  because  a 
man  is  so  disagreeable  in  his  manners  and  person,  that 
we  refuse  to  associate  with  him,  that,  therefore,  he  ought 
to  be  denied  the  right  of  suffrage,  the  privilege  of  choos 
ing  his  trade  and  profession,  the  opportunities  of  acquir 
ing  knowledge,  and  the  liberty  of  pursuing  his  own  hap 
piness?"  1  need  hardly  remind  you,  of  what  I  am  sure 
you  know  well  enough,  that  touching  the  subject  of  this 
discourse,  I  am  not  considering  the  blacks  as  individuals, 
but  as  a  race.  If  they  were  but  a  handful  scattered 
throughout  the  wide  expanse  of  white  population,  a  few 
here  and  a  few  there,  what  reasonable  man  would  wish 
to  debar  them  from  the  rights  of  citizenship?  For  they 
could  then  have  no  separate  purposes  of  their  own  apart 
from  the  general  interest ;  they  could  not  act  as  a  distinct 
body;  their  influence  W7ould  be  as  nothing.  But  how 
different  is  the  question  which  we  are  now  considering ! 
A  large  population  equal  in  number  to  the  whites,  and  in 
some  states  perhaps  superior ;  prolific  of  increase ;  of  a 
different  blood  and  complexion  ;  bound  by  no  sympathy, 
but  rather  disposed  (as  they  would  be  most  certainly 
when  raised  to  political  equality,)  to  look  with  hatred 
and  jealousy  upon  those  who  had  once  held  them  in 
bondage — a  population  like  this  to  be  introduced  into  an 
organized  community  for  the  purpose  of  taking  part  in 
its  government — is  this  a  small  matter?  How  absurd  is 
the  distinction  which  this  writer  attempts  to  draw  be 
tween  political  equality  and  social  equality,  granting  the 
one  and  withholding  the  other  !  WhnHs  tjif*  end  of  po 
litical  powTer  except  to  secure  social  advantages  ?  The 
fus*  use  of  political  predominance,  will  it  not  be  to  estab 
lish  predominance  in  every  thing  ? 

There  are  indeed,  in  the  bosom  of  every  community, 


163 

<men  whose  characters  and  habits  render  them  repulsive 
to  us,  and  whom  no  consideration  would  induce  us  to 
admit  into  our  social  circles/  Let  us  suppose  that  this 
class  becomes  the  most  numerous  in  a  state ;  that  they 
are  bound  together  by  a  common  interest,  by  some  sym 
pathetic  bond  which  excludes  all  minor  differences,  caus 
ing  them  to  move  together  as  one  man  ;  that  they  are 
inflamed  with  bitter  animosity  against  the  industrious, 
the  intelligent,  the  wealthy,  whom  they  stigmatize  as 
aristocrats,  monopolists,  the  oppressive  class  that  grind 
the  faces  of  the  poor,  or  by  any  other  opprobrious  name. 
Will  no  dissensions  arise  in  the  state  of  society  like  this  ? 
Will  these  men,  riot  admitted  to  social  equality,  but  pos 
sessed  of  full  political  privileges,  remain  quiet  and  peace 
able  ?  Will  they  submit  to  that  social  superiority,  and 
rest  contented  with  their  political  rights  ?  What  would 
their  political  rights  be,  in  their  estimation,  but  a  mere 
name,  unless  they  were  used  to  gain  their  favourite  pur 
poses  'I  And  what  would  those  purposes  be,  but  a  com 
plete  overthrow  of  existing  institutions,  the  subversion  of 
all  order,  the  violation  of  all  rights  ? 

Let  any  one  look  at  the  manner  in  which  revolutions  in 
governments  are  brought  about,  if  he  would  see  an  illus 
tration  of  this  principle.  In  France,  for  example,  the 
lower  orders  had  taken  little  or  no  part  in  the  public 
affairs.  The  nobility  and  the  monarchy  were  the  promi 
nent  powers  in  the  constitution ;  and  seeking  their  own 
aggrandizement,  they  had  oppressed  the  people  greatly, 
insomuch  that  all  community  of  interests  or  feeling  had 
been  in  a  measure  destroyed.  A  sense  of  common  inju 
ry  had  united  together  the  great  mass  of  the  nation  ;  had 
concentrated  their  aims,  had  caused  them  to  discover  in 
the  higher  classes  a  common  enemy.  When  political 
privileges  were  extended  to  the  people  by  Louis  XVI. 
and  they  were  empowered  to  exercise  the  right  of  suffrage 
in  choosing  a  national  assembly,  did  they  remain  content 
ed  with  this  participation  in  the  general  affairs  of  the 
kingdom  ?  Did  they  recognize  the  distinction  which  this 
writer  has  drawn  between  political  and  social  equality  ? 
They  did  indeed  make  many  new  discoveries  in  politics 
and  morals,  but  this  appears  to  have  escaped  them  in  the 


164 

wildest  frenzy  of  their  madness.  There  are  in  this  coun 
try  different  sects  and  religious  denominations.  They 
seem  to  move  along  harmoniously  enough ;  they  exercise 
political  rights  in  common  ;  and  social  communion  is  not 
interrupted.  The  reason  is  very  obvious,  inasmuch  as 
no  one  sect  has  cause  of  dread  from  the  interference  of 
another.  No  one  party  claims  to  direct ;  all  are  parts 
of  a  whole,  each  in  its  sphere  finds  no  obstacle  from  a 
neighbour.  But  if  the  whole  country  were  divided  into 
two  great  sects,  whereof  one  was  predominant,  and  exer 
cised  its  influence  in  controlling  the  affairs  of  government, 
as  would  certainly  be  the  case,  how  different  then  would 
be  the  state  of  things?  One  has  need  only  to  look  into 
Burnet's  history  of  his  own  times,  to  see  such  a  condition 
fully  set  forth,  in  the  accounts  of  what  followed  King 
Charles'  attempt  to  introduce  Episcopal  church  govern 
ment  in  Scotland.  What  dissensions,  what  violence,  what 
bitter  animosity,  what  persecutions,  what  blood  shed  ! 

Let  us  not  lose  sight  of  the  principle.  If  the  black 
population,  were  few  in  number,  and  hence  little  disposed 
to  aspire  after  the  directing  power,  no  harm  would  be 
likely  to  follow  from  their  admission  to  political  rights. 
They  would  then  conform  themselves  to  existing  laws, 
and  would  desire  nothing  more.  But  when  they  assume 
the  station  of  an  equal  power  in  the  community,  and  of 
consequence,  a  rival  power,  for  their  aims  and  interests  as 
a  body  could  in  no  manner  blend  consistently  with  those 
of  the  constituted  authorities,  who  does  not  see  that  the 
whole  question  is  changed  ?  The  foregoing  considera 
tions,  are  such  as  would  come  naturally  into  the  minds  of 
most  persons  who  would  give  themselves  to  reflect  upon 
this  subject.  It  would  seem  therefore,  to  be  of  little  use 
thus  to  set  them  forth ;  and  to  insist  upon  propositions 
which  sensible  men  would  generally  admit.  But  there  is 
no  presumption  in  saying  that  much  delusion  prevails 
concerning  these  things.  It  has  been  already  alluded  to. 
One  class  of  well  meaning  persons,  who  believing  that 
much  injustice  has  been  done  towards  the  coloured  peo 
ple  by  holding  them  in  slavery,  are  now  in  a  hurry  to  re 
compense  them,  this  one  idea  seems  to  have  taken  posses 
sion  of  their  minds  ;  they  stop  not  to  examine,  to  consider, 


165 

to  provide.  They  view  one  part  of  the  subject,  and  be 
lieve  that  to  be  the  whole.  They  do  not  remember  that 
the  blacks  who  were  brought  to  this  country  were  slaves 
before,  slaves  to  barbarous  savages^of  their  own  colour; 
that  so  far  from  suffering  loss,  they  were  indeed  gainers 
by  the  exchange  ;  and  were  perhaps  saved  frorn  death  by 
their  transportation  hither." 

Such  are  the  sensible  and  judicious  views  of  Mr.  Carey. 
We  wish  that  the  plan  which  we  have  adopted,  would 
admit  of  an  insertion  of  all  that  he  says  on  this  point. 
We  have  repeatedly  quoted  from  this  excellent  work  on 
slavery,  and  take  great  pleasure  in  making  here  again, 
our  public  acknowledgment  of  the  same.  We  invite  all 
to  read  it,  and  we  believe  that  they  will  there  find  an 
irrefutable  answer  to  all  Dr.  Channing's  positions,  found 
ed  on  the  abstract  principles  of  moral  evil  and  natural 
rights.  For  ourselves,  we  are  forced  to  the  conclusion, 
that  the  remedy  suggested  as  a  cure  for  the  evil  of  sla 
very,  by  the  abolitionists,  is  not  the  proper  one.  Th^t  to 
turn  loose  thousands,  indeed  millions  of  slaves,  and  raise 
them,  so  soon  as  "they  can  feed  or  take  care  of  them 
selves  and  their  children,"  as  Dr.  Channing  says,  "to  all 
our  rights  and  privileges,  social,  moral,  and  political," 
would  be  to  effect  their  destruction,  if  not  that  of  their 
owners.  The  plain  truth  is,  amalgamation  being  the  only 
certain  bond  by  which  any  two  racel?  of  people  can  pos 
sibly  be  bound  together,  and  it  being  so  repulsive  in  itself 
to  the  whites,  it  never  can  take  place  to  any  extent.  All 
history  proves  the  truth  of  this  statement,  whether  it  be 
ancient  or  modern,  and  St.  Domingo,  Canada,  and  the 
Moors  in  Spain,  as  well  as  the  present  condition  of  many 
Indian  tribes  in  the  United  States,  are  enduring  monu 
ments  of  the  truth  of  this  position.  The  present  state  of 
St.  Domingo,  and  the  emancipated  negroes  in  the  British 
West  India  islands,  affords  also  the  most  glaring  evidence 
of  this  fact.  The  planters  of  the  last  named  have  lately 
turned  again  to  Africa,  to  procure  labourers,  as  they  cannot 
get  the  freed  negroes  to  work — the  letters  of  Mr.  Gurney 
and  comments  of  Dr.  Channing  to  the  contrary  notwith 
standing.  The  wealthy  island  of  St.  Domingo  is  reduced 
to  one  of  comparative  desolation.  Formerly  the  richest — 
15 


166 

now  the  poorest.  Its  once  rich  fields,  that  were  clothed 
with  coffee  trees,  and  wildernesses  of  sugar  cane,  are 
now  grown  up  in  weeds,  and  the  planters,  the  owners  of 
the  soil,  in  the  British  islands,  must  desert  their  homes,  or 
find  some  other  labourers  than  those,  their  former  slaves, 
now  turned  loose  by  thousands  but  to  prowl  as  wolves, 
and  to  devour  their  prey.  What  will  abolitionists  say  to 
this?  How  expensive  the  plan  to  save  themselves,  and 
find  labourers,  by  the  transportation  of  Africans,  to  work 
for  a  specified  time,  to  be  brought  directly  from  Africa 
itself?  We  can  give  no  better  description  of  the  true  con 
dition  of  St.  Domingo,  than  that  we  find  in  the  late  official 
report  of  a  French  naval  officer  on  that  station,  respect 
ing  the  present  state  of  the  island.  He  cannot  be  sus 
pected  of  being  unfriendly  to  them.  This  report  is  found 
in  the  National  Intelligencer  and  the  papers  of  the  past 
week,  which  we  subjoin.  Those  editors  head  their  re 
marks  thus  :  "St.  Domingo  as  it  now  is,"  and  then  add — 
"The  following  description  of  the  present  state  of  that 
fsland  is  from  the  pen  of  a  French  naval  officer:" 

"We  embarked  on  board  the  frigate  Nereide  on  the 
24th  December.  On  the  28th  we  were  at  Fort  Royal, 
to  recetve  orders  from  the  admiral,  who  despatched  us 
on  the  29th  to  St.  Domingo,  where  we  were  to  take  on 
board  the  five  millions  of  francs  which  the  consul-general 
had  informed  us  Xvere  ready.  We  have  been  three  days 
at  anchor  in  this  famous  republic,  and  all  that  I  can  say 
to  you  of  the  misery  of  the  people,  will  scarce  suffice  to 
give  you  any  idea  of  it.  I  have  been  every  where,  and 
every  where  have  seen  nothing  but  degradation  and  cor 
ruption.  Men  in  rags  compose  the  army,  and  exhibit  a 
most  ludicrous  military  masquerade.  Cavalry  on  foot 
manoeuvre  like  horses,  at  the  word  of  command,  trot, 
gallop,  &c.  Both  officers  and  soldiers  are  without  shoes; 
one  has  spurs  tied  by  a  cord  to  his  naked  feet,  another 
has  made  himself  spurs,  with  a  piece  of  iron  driven  into 
a  wooden  sole,  tied  to  his  foot,  and  one  whole  company 
which  I  inspected  minutely,  had  not  a  single  musket 
which  would  go  ofT.  The  officers  in  rags,  ask  charity. 
Slothfulness,  poverty  in  its  most  hideous  form — and  in 
the  negro  it  is  most  hideous — alone  meet  your  eye  at  the 


167 

town  of  Port  au  Prince.     The  fields  are  over-run  by 
brambles,  logwood  trees,  and  the  rapacious  lichens,  which 
obstruct  the  roads  and  destroy  the  old  plantations.  With 
the  exception  of  a  few  gardens,  which  here  and  there  are 
cultivated  by  the  negroes — gardens  far  inferior  to  those 
of  our  worst  slaves — there  is  no  cultivation  whatever. 
The  only  product  of<the  island  is  coffee,  and  that  every 
year  diminishes  so  materially,  that  the  time  is  not  far 
distant  when  it  will  produce  none  at  all.     No  more  is 
planted,  and  the  old  coffee  plantations  are  not  even  taken 
care  of.     The  owners  gather  the  crops  from  their  own 
fields,  in  the  midst  of  briars  and  weeds,  no  labourers 
being  to  be  had— the  one  not  being  willing  to  work  for 
the   other.      In   1791,  the  exports  of  this  fertile  island 
amounted  to  at  least  twenty-three  millions  of  dollars,  with 
a  population  of  about  600,000.     Alas  what  a  change ! — 
what  a  declension !     At  this  time  there  are  hardly  pro 
ducts  sufficient  to  sustain  its  inhabitants,  in  number  but 
a  little  over  one  million,  and  its  exports  amount  to  very 
little.     Without  subordination,  fast  hastening  back  to  a 
dark,  uncivilized  and  barbarian  state." 

The  editor  of  the  Baltimore  American  speaks  thus  of 
the  British  West  India  islands:  "We  published  a  few 
days  ago,  an  account  of  the  present  condition  of  Hayti, 
as  described  by  an  eye-witness.  The  picture  was  that 
of  a  country  fast  lapsing  into  the  savage  wildness  of  na 
ture  ;  while  the  appearance  and  conduct  of  the  people, 
exhibited  a  mere  caricature  of  civilization,  in  which  the 
degradation  produced  by  slothfulness  and  vice  contrasted 
miserably  with  impotent  pretences,  at  something  like  an 
organized  state  of  society.  The  present  condition  and 
tendency  of  things  in  the  British  West  India  islands,  au 
gur  a  result  no  better  there,  under  the  emancipation  act 
of  the  British  parliament.  It  is  to  no  purpose  that  the 
zealous  friends  of  that  policy  labour  in  its  vindication,  by 
procuring  and  publishing  the  most  favourable  accounts, 
that  partial,  one-sided  reports  can  exhibit,  of  the  condi 
tion  of  those  islands.  Facts  will  speak  for  themselves, 
and  in  a  manner  not  to  be  gain-sayed.  Instead  of  their 
former  state  of  affluence  and  ease,  the  British  islands  now 
present  a  melancholy  spectacle  of  discontent  and  daily 


168 

diminishing  production.  Various  devices  have  been  re 
sorted  to,  for  the  purpose  of  procuring  labourers,  to  sup 
ply  the  place  of  the  emancipated  negroes,  who  will  not 
work.  Emigration  from  England  and  Ireland  has  been 
encouraged,  and  a  fund  provided  to  aid  the  passage  of 
all  who  could  be  induced  to  emigrate.  Another  plan 
was,  to  procure  a  large  emigration- of  free  coloured  peo 
ple  from  the  United  States ;  and  the  last  project  which 
we  have  seen  any  account  of,  contemplated  a  transfer  of 
African  labourers  from  Sierra  Leone  and  the  African 
coast — a  sort  of  substitute  for  the  slave  trade.  These 
expedients  have  been  quite  ineffectual  thus  far ;  the  down 
ward  tendency  of  things  has  not  been  arrested ;  on  the 
contrary,  every  year  bears  witness  to  the  increasing  em 
barrassments  and  distress  of  the  British  islands." 

Here  then  is  the  condition  to  which  abolitionists  would 
reduce,  by  their  fanatical  excitements,  the  coloured  popu 
lation  of  our  states.  We  may  use  here  the  eloquent  lan 
guage  of  a  gentleman  from  the  North,  who  has  nobly 
come  forward  to  maintain,  by  his  comprehensive  and 
powerful  mental  efforts,  the  cause  of  the  South.  "It  is 
not  among  the  least  revolting  consequences  of  the  pro 
ceedings  of  the  abolitionists,  that  they  involve  the  neces 
sity  of  inquiring  into  a  subject  so  fraught  with  every 
thing  that  can  render  it  aggravating  to  the  feelings  of 
humanity.  That  the  slaves  may,  at  some  not  very  dis 
tant  period,  be  excited,  by  the  goadings  of  the  abolition 
ists,  to  the  most  desperate  atrocities,  is  more  than  suffi 
ciently  probable."  But  "that  sense  of  inferiority  which 
makes  every  slave  a  coward  in  the  presence  of  his  master, 
will  prevent  their  obtaining  freedom  only  at  the  master's 
will."  "In  Jamaica,"  says  the  same  talented  author, 
"the  negroes  are  daily  becoming  more  licentious  and 
corrupt.  Many  of  them  do  not  work  over  two  hours  a 
day.  This  island  "promises  to  become  as  pestiferous  a 
sink  of  vice  and  corruption,  as  the  most  libertine  enthu 
siast  can  desire." 

We  have  only  now  to  turn  for  one  moment  to  the 
freed  negroes  of  the  United  States.  Not  to  those  only  of 
the  South,  but  to  those  of  the  -North  also.  The  eman- 
cipatiun  of  the  slaves  of  the  middle  states  was  gradual 


169 

and  progressive.  These  states  possessed  comparatively 
few,  and  their  services  were  not  indispensably  necessary 
to  domestic  offices,  or  the  cultivation  of  the  land.  What 
then,  we  ask,  is  the  true  condition  of  the  free  coloured 
people  of  those  states?  Here  and  there  you  find  indus 
trious  individuals,  such  as  you  sometimes  see  in  the  South. 
But  as  a  whole,  are  they  not  improvident,  or  lazy,  or 
licentious,  or  profligate,  or  vile  and  villanous,  perhaps  all  ? 
Do  they  look,  as  a  whole,  beyond  a  servant's  place,  and 
is  the  white  man  willing  that  they  shall  go  beyond  it  ? 
We  appeal  now  to  facts,  because,  having  lived  a  long 
while  where  there  are  no  negroes  in  slavery  at  all,  we 
are  prepared  to  judge  of  this  matter.  What  is  the  con 
dition  of  the  free  negroes  in  the  District  of  Columbia? 
Some  of  them  are  pious,  upright,  good  men.  Most  of 
them  live  in  wretchedness  and  die  in  disgrace.  But  you 
say  there  are  slaves  there.  Go  then  to  Pennsylvania. 
The  wretchedness  of  the  negro  population  of  Philadelphia, 
where  there  are  about  25,000  free  negroes,  is  beyond  all 
human  calculation.  It  is  indeed  unparalleled  in  this 
country.  Look  at  the  internal  towns,  and  see  their  state. 
At  Lancaster,  Harrisburg.  Reading,  Carlisle,  Chambers- 
burg,  Some  of  the  most  miserable  creatures  we  ever 
beheld,  monuments  of  laziness,  profligacy  and  crime,  are 
among  the  negroes  in  some  of  those  towns.  Do  you  be 
lieve  us?  Do  you  say  no?  Look  here.  We  give  you, 
intelligent  and  considerate  reader,  an  article  in  the  Pres 
byterian  Advocate,  published  in  Pittsburg,  which  shows 
how  the  negroes  have  been  affected  in  Pennsylvania  by 
emancipation.  The  article  is  brief,  and  we  copy  it 
entire.  Look  at  this  !  "There  are  25,549  negroes  in  the 
city  and  county  of  Philadelphia.  A  house  of  refuge  for 
coloured  children  is  proposed.  There  are  50,000  negroes 
in  the  state.  Of  every  nine  convicts  in  the  Eastern  Peni 
tentiary  in  1831,  four  were  negroes;  of  every  nine  in 
1841,  seven  are  blacks!  This  is  an  alarming  dispro 
portion,  considering  the  fewness  of  the  blacks." 

Here  then  is  a  picture,  one  too,  drawn  by  ministers  of 

a  Christian  church,  friendly  to  the  cause  of  emancipation. 

Some  of  whom  at  least,  are  believed  to  be  abolitionists ; 

but  who,  in  presenting  the  true  condition  of  the  coloured 

15* 


170 

man,   have   given  us  the  foregoing  faithful  statements. 
But,  if  any  doubt,  let  him  go  and  read  for  himself,  the 
statistics  of  the  Pennsylvania  penitentiaries,  and  behold 
the  truth  of  what  these  good  men  here  state.     If  then 
these  be  facts,  and  this  the  condition  of  the  coloured  peo 
ple  in  the  free  states,  what  must  be  their  situation  in 
slave  states  ?     There  they  induce  the  slaves  to  steal — 
there  most  of  them  are  accustomed  to  spend  their  all  for 
drink.     There,  every  effort  to  induce  industry  and  care 
is  abortive,  and  because  others  provide  for  them,  idleness 
and  profligacy  ensue.     In  a  residence  of  several  years 
in  the  midst  of  at  least  five  hundred  free  negroes,  where 
the  land  was  good,  and  several  coloured  persons  owners 
of  it,  by  the  kindness  of  the  whites,  in  no  one  year  out  of 
five  years,  if  brought  to  testify  to  it  on  oath,  could  we 
say  that  we  believe   the  five  hundred  made  five  hun 
dred  bushels  of  grain.     What  then,  are  such  persons  to 
live  and  depredate  on   society  ?     What  would   be  their 
state  if  two  or  three  millions  were  turned  loose  ?     Let 
those  who  reside  in  New  York  say  !     There  abolitionists 
may  consult  their  own  eyes  and  ears,  and  while  sicken 
ing  with  disappointment,  at  the  result  of  all  the  efforts, 
even  of  sober  rational  philanthropy,  in  seeing  the  lazi 
ness,  the  dirt,  the  debauchery,  and  the  crimes  of  the  free 
blacks  of  that  city.     Let   them  ask   themselves,  if  the 
massacre,  and  exile,  and  ruin   of  their  brethren  of  the 
South,  and  the  substitution  of  a  population  composed  of 
such  ingredients,  will  increase  or  diminish  the  sum  of 
human  happiness.     Such    a  community  could   not  last. 
Would  not  the  free  blacks  now  perish  amidst  the  frosts 
of  winter  in  all  our  large  cities,  but  for  the  benevolence 
and  attention  of  the  charitable  whites.     Is  not  this  the 
case  in  New  York  ?     And  although   there  are  excellent 
coloured   men  who  have  been  freed,  or  who  have  pur 
chased  their  freedom,  is  it  not  a  fact  that  there  are  thou 
sands  of  free  negroes,  whose  condition  is  as  far  inferior 
to  that  of  the  southern  slaves,  as  their  condition,  aboli 
tionists  being  judges,  is  inferior  to  that  of  their  owners? 
Their  want  of  prudence,  their  improvidence  of  the  future, 
and  their  recklessness  of  character,  leave  them  the  prey 
of  want,  of  every  vice,  and  almost  every  disease.     To 


171 

remedy  these  evils,  the  abolitionists  point  out  amalgama 
tion.  A  mixture  of  blood,  a  communion  of  civil  and 
social  rights — this  is  the  cure.  We  are  to  lower  that 
standard  of  nature,  with  which  the  God  of  nature  has 
endowed  us.  Physical  incongruities  are  to  be  overcome. 
White  and  black  children  are  to  be  educated  together, 
and  then  their  bloods  are  to  be  mingled,  and  of  it,  one 
blood  be  formed.  We  are  to  deny  ourselves,  and  re 
nounce  our  nature,  our  feelings,  our  race,  and  then  give 
our  country  and  our  all,  to  millions  of  slaves  forced  upon 
us  by  a  foreign  power.  Yes !  the  white  man  who  pos 
sesses  in  himself  the  ability,  if  we  may  so  speak,  of  poli 
tical  regeneration,  and  has  ever  proved  it,  by  bettering 
his  civil  condition,  is  to  be  brought  down  to  a  level  with 
the  negro,  and  all  his  mental  powers  are  to  be  subjugat 
ed,  and  prostrated,  to  make  him  a  companion  meet  for 
those  \vho  comparatively  speaking,  as  a  whole,  only  know 
to  grovel  in  the  dust.  God  forbid  that  such  a  requisition 
should  ever  be  pressed  upon  the  South!  To  do  this, 
would  be  to  attack  her  independence  in  the  tenderest 
point;  and  the  day  in  which  it  is  done,  will  tell  to  hea 
ven  and  earth,  that  southerners  consider  resistance, 
though  it  be  to  the  extermination  of  the  coloured  race,  a 
solemn  duty,  for  the  faithful  performance  of  which,  as 
did  their  fathers  in  the  cause  of  liberty,  they  will  pledge 
"their  lives,  their  fortunes,  and  their  sacred  honour." 


PART      VI. 


THE  QUESTION  WHO  ARE  ABOLITIONISTS?  ANSWERED.  THAT  SUCH 
HAVE  NEITHER  INDIVIDUALLY  NOR  COLLECTIVELY.,  A  MORAL 
OR  POLITICAL  RIGHT  TO  INTERFERE  IN  THE  QUESTION  OF 
SLAVERY  IN  THE  SLAVE-HOLDING  STATES.  TO  THE  CONTRARY, 
THE  CONSTITUTION  AND  LAWS  OF  OUR  COMMON  COUNTRY 
BIND  THEM  MORALLY  AS  CHRISTIANS.,  WHO  OUGHT  TO  OBEY 
THOSE  LAWS  AND  POLITICALLY,  AS  CITIZENS,  TO  AID  AND 
PROTECT  THE  SOUTH,  IN  THEIR  RIGHT  OF  PROPERTY  IN 
SLAVES.  THE  VIEWS  OF  CONWAY  ROBINSON,  ESQ..  ATTORNEY 
AT  LAW  IN  RICHMOND,  VIRGINIA,  ON  THIS  SUBJECT. 

FROM  what  has  already  been  written  by  us,  on  the 
subject  of  a  direct  and  immediate  emancipation  of  the 
slave  population  of  our  country,  here  in  our  midst,  to  be 
raised  to  an  equality  of  rights,  moral,  political  and  social, 
with  ourselves,  it  is  apparent  that  some  pretty  correct 
ideas  of  the  true  character  of  abolitionists,  as  well  as 
their  principles,  may  be  plainly  seen.  In  our  exposition 
of  an  abolitionist,  it  is  certainly  not  our  intention  to  be 
come  the  advocates  of  slavery  or  of  the  slave  trade.  We 
have  already  said  that  slavery  is  an  evil,  a  great  evil,  and 
every  true  patriot,  as  well  as  every  friend  to  humanity, 
must  desire  that  the  country  be  rid  of  it,  for  the  ulti 
mate  good  of  ourselves  and  posterity,  as  well  as  that 
of  the  slave  population.  But  slavery  now  exists.  It  is 
here — we  are  under  the  influence  of  that  evil.  We  must 
get  clear  of  it  in  the  most  appropriate  and  the  safest  way, 
if  we  get  clear  of  it  at  all.  But  let  it  be  remembered,  it 
is  one  thing  to  be  averse  to  slavery  in  principle,  and  in 
practice  too,  and  another  to  be  an  abolitionist.  For  an 
abolitionist,  as  we  gather  his  character  from  the  writings 


174 

of  abolitionists,  and  we  have  quoted  them  freely  in  this 
work,  is  one,  who  not  only  asks  for,  but  demands,  and 
calls  upon  the/ree  states  to  demand,  the  direct  and  imme 
diate  emancipation  of  all  slaves,  here,  in  our  midst,  now 
held  in  bondage,  in  the  slave-holding  states;  and  also 
their  exaltation  to  an  equality  with  the  whites,  as  to 
rights  and  privileges,  moral,  social,  and  political.  Now, 
any  class  of  men  who  would  make  such  a  demand,  not 
only  manifest  their  presumption,  but  display  to  all  the 
earth,  that  they  are  enthusiasts  and  fanatics  of  the  first 
order.  This,  then,  is  the  first  characteristic  feature  in 
the  composition,  or  constitution  of  an  abolitionist.  He  is 
an  enthusiast ;  he  is  a  fanatic.  An  enthusiast  is  one  who 
looks  for  the  accomplishment  of  an  end,  without  the  use 
of  the  legitimate  and  appropriate  means  to  effect  it.  A 
fanatic  is  one  guilty  of  a  religious  phrensy,  and  wildness 
of  conduct.  To  abolitionists  all  these  things  actually  ap 
pertain.  They  seek  to  bring  about  an  emancipation 
direct  and  immediate,  by  means  not  only  not  legitimate, 
but  wholly  inappropriate.  Instead  of  persuasion,  and 
argument,  founded  on  reason  and  revelation,  there  is  an 
entire  disregard  of  all  those  courtesies,  and  all  that 
civility  and  kindness,  which  ought  to  characterize  men 
seeking  to  upturn  an  institution,  of  hundreds  of  years 
standing,  and  one  too,  the  upturning  of  which  must  be, 
without  great  care,  attended  with  so  many  frightful  con 
sequences.  Instead  of  this,  what  do  we  hear.  A  pas 
sage  of  scripture  is  disconnected  from  the  context,  it  is 
harped  on,  as  if  it  contained  the  whole  Christian  system, 
the  entire  plan  of  salvation  itself.  And  then  with  a  "reli 
gious  phrensy" — "a  wildness  of  conduct,  almost  unparal 
leled  at  any  period  of  the  world,  (even  in  the  darkest 
ages,)  men,  women,  children,  have  been  enlisted  in  the 
ranks  of  abolitionism ;  above  all,  Christian  ministers  have 
made  the  sacred  desk  an  arena  for  abolition  discussion 
and  abuse  of  all,  who  do  not  enter  into  their  plans  with 
out  regard  to  office,  standing,  or  character,  as  "rogues," 
"kidnappers,"  "men-stealers,"  "pirates,"  "murderers,  and 
worse  than  murderers." 

So  lie  remarks  of  Dr.  Channing  and  Judge  Jay,  come 
but   little  short  of  those  made  by  the  rudest  abolitionists, 


175 

in  virulence  and  abuse.  The  pill  is  no  less  nauseous,  be 
cause  it  contains  a  little  sweetening.  For  our  part,  we 
believe  all  southerners  had  rather  have,  and  endure,  the 
open  attacks  of  foul-mouthed  abolitionists,  than  the  artful, 
under-handed,  insidious,  smooth-tongued  slander,  of  a 
learned  divine.  That  such  a  man  as  Dr.  C.  should  vol 
unteer  and  yield  himself  as  one,  to  join  in  an  attack  on 
men  that  claim  too  the  right  to  speak  and  act  for  them 
selves  ;  and  at  one  fell  stroke,  denounce  them,  as  wanting 
in  sympathy  and  all  the  feelings  of  humanity,  as  unchris 
tian,  wholly  so,  as  unjust,  as  "murderers  of  the  bodies  and 
souls  of  men,"  and  as  carrying  on  "a  spurious  amalgama 
tion"  "by  forcing  the  coloured  woman  to  yield  to  their  de 
mands."  is  language  that  we  were  not  prepared  to  hear 
from  such  a  quarter.  What  ought  to  be  our  indignation 
when  we  behold  such  men  pursuing  this  course?  A 
course  evidently  calculated  to  instigate  an  ignorant  popu 
lation,  of  millions  of  coloured  people,  to  insurrection  and 
murder.  What  must  we  say  when  wre  behold  such  men 
"sowing  the  seeds  of  a  servile  war,"  converting  the  pre 
cepts  of  holy  writ,  into  an  excuse  for  violating  its  spirit 
and  doctrine  ?  What  must  we  say  when  we  behold  them 
"snatching  a  burning  brand  from  the  throne  of  God,  to 
set  fire  to  our  institutions,  and  consume  our  union  to 
ashes,"  and  force  us  to  "seek  a  refuge  from  the  red  hot 
fires  of  fanaticism,  in  the  chill  dark  caverns  of  inhumanity, 
and  murder  itself." 

Without  a  rule  of  faith,  with  no  standard  authority, 
no  teacher  whose  lessons  are  hallowed  by  the  belief  of 
ages,  no  pastor  who  seems  to  have  any  guide,  but  his  own 
wild  vagaries,  or  any  other  restrainst  than  that  of  his  own 
consummate  arrogance,  MEN  and  WOMEN  are  induced  alike, 
to  leave  their  homes  and  travel  hundreds  of  miles,  to  the 
neglect  of  their  domestic  duties,  to  deliberate  upon,  and 
discuss  plans  of  operation  in  abolition  conventions ;  where 
by,  the  better  to  attack  the  south  and  its  institutions.  We 
give  an  instance  or  two  of  this  gross  enthusiasm  and  fana 
ticism.  One  man,  dependent  on  his  daily  work  in  one  of 
the  free  states,  with  whom  we  are  acquainted,  left  his 
home  and  labour,  at  a  time,  when,  the  confinement  of  his 
wife,  placed  her  in  a  most  delicate  and  helpless  condition, 


176 

with  several  little  children,  mostly  also  helpless,  but 
badly  provided  for,  if  provided  for  at  all,  to  gooff  several 
hundred  miles  to  an  abolition  convention,  under  the  convic 
tion  that  by  the  loss  of  his  vote,  or  influence,  the  Utica 
abolition  convention,  would  not  force  the  south  (ito  set 
all  the  poor  negroes  free."  Negroes,  who,  in  our  hearts, 
we  believe,  were  at  that  very  time,  better  off  and  more 
comfortable  than  either  he  or  his.  This  fact  can  be 
established  not  only  by  our  own  testimony,  but  by  others 
also  of  unquestionable  veracity. 

We  give  another  case.  An  old  raw-boned  lady,  about 
six  feet  six  inches  high,  called  at  our  house  in  the  dead 
of  winter,  on  her  journey  to  Washington,  the  bearer  of  a 
petition  twelve  yards  and  a  half  long,  as  she  said,  to  be 
presented  to  congress  by  the  honourable  J.  Q.  Adams, 
ex-president  of  the  United  States  of  North  America.  We 
afterwards  understood  that  this  was  signed  by  men, 
women,  children,  coloured  and  white.  The  poor  old 
enthusiastic  lady,  seemed  to  think  that  the  world  would 
speedily  end,  if  she  did  not  hasten  to  Washington,  and 
have  her  petition  presented,  that  the  murderous  southern 
ers  might  be  forced  to  free  the  negroes.  We  have  been 
ourself  insulted  at  the  door  of  a  church,  and  in  the  very 
act  of  entering  the  same,  simply,  because  we  were  bom 
south  of  the  Potomac,  known  to  be  an  anti-abolitionist, 
and  dared  to  pollute  the  sanctuary  of  a  free  state,  by  en 
tering  the  same.  But  mark  a  further  illustration  of  the 
fanaticism  of  abolitionists.  This  same  individual  em 
ployed  negroes,  said  to  be  runaway  slaves,  from  a  neigh 
bouring  state,  to  labour  for  him,  and  they  were  brought 
to  the  table  to  sit  down  and  eat  with  his  own  daughter,  a 
pretty  interesting  girl  not  twenty.  It  occurred  to  us, 
that  he  might  lament  it.  However  this  is  not  our  busi 
ness,  the  laws  of  some  free  states,  legalize  marriages 
with  white  and  coloured  people,  and  abolitionists  believe 
and  absolutely  demand,  that  negroes  "ought  to  be  admit 
ted  forthwith  to  the  enjoyment  of  the  same  privileges  and 
the  exercise  of  the  same  prerogatives  as  others,"  and  that 
"the  paths  of  preferment,  of  wealth  and  intelligence, 
should  be  opened  as  widely  to  them  as  to  persons  of 
a  white  complexion."  Such  is  the  language  of  the  "mani 
festo"  of  the  National  Anti-slavery  Society  of  Philadelphia. 


177 

To  such  a  height  of  imprudence  and  arrogance  have 
declarations  and  conduct  such  as  are  mentioned  above, 
forced  the  negroes  of  the  free  states,  that  we  are  told,  in 
one  of  the  towns  bordering  on  Maryland,  an  association 
has  been  formed  of  abolitionists  and  negroes,  one  of  the 
articles  of  which  is,  that  no  coloured  lady  or  gentleman 
is  to  consent  to  be  a  labourer,  or  domestic  in  any  family, 
or  house,  whose  inmates  however  wealthy  or  exalted, 
will  not  permit  them  to  be  seated  with  their  employers 
regularly,  at  their  tables,  and  in  their  churches,  and  unite 
and  mingle  with  them,  in  their  social  parties  and  compa 
nies.  By  such  work  as  this,  these  ignorant,  hair-brained, 
enthusiastic,  fanatical  abolitionists,  expect  to  force  the 
south,  to  turn  loose  in  their  midst,  three  millions  of  slaves, 
and  exalt  them,  to  participate  with  themselves,  "in  all 
their  privileges,  social,  moral,  and  political."  Although 
some  white  parents  at  the  north,  may  not  blush  to  see 
their  lovely  daughters,  leaning  on  the  arms  of  coal-black 
negro  men,  and  led  by  them  to  the  altar;  and  although,  a 
thousand  coloured  lasses  may  mate  off,  with  as  many 
white  men,  and  have  their  union  consummated  by  all  the 
sacred  rites  of  religion,  and  the  sanctions  of  law,  yet  it 
moves  us  not;  we  are  here  !  The  south  cannot  and  will 
not  be  forced  into  measures  by  such  enthusiasts.  Aboli 
tionists  may  foolishly  and  wickedly  carry  out  their  own 
theory,  by  giving  up,  in  the  exercise  of  their  fanaticism 
to  wretchedness  and  disgrace,  the  SONS  and  DAUGHTERS 
of  their  own  bowels,  but  we  stand  on  a  rock,  from  whence 
we  are  not  to  be  moved. 

An  abolitionist  is  not  only  an  enthusiast  and  a  fanatic, 
but  he  is  also  a  disorganizer,  and  virtually  an  opponent 
of  all  law,  sacred  and  human.  We  have  shown  at 
another  place  how  these  disorganizes  are  pledged  for 
upturning  the  institutions  of  society,  by  their  dogmas 
advanced  and  supported,  at  the  hazard  of  the  Christian 
system  itself,  How  men  are  to  be  thrown  back  into  a 
state  of  insubordination  and  disorder,  under  the  vain 
show  of  equality,  founded  on  the  abstract  principles  of 
moral,  civil,  and  natural  rights.  To  contradict  Abra 
ham,  Jacob,  Job,  "Moses,  and  all  the  prophets,"  is  noth 
ing.  To  deny  New  Testament  principle  and  example, 
16 


178 

is  nothing.  Their  dogmas  are  presented  as  a  barrier 
against  the  whole,  and  thousands  of  Christians,  of  every 
age  of  the  world,  as  well  as  those  now  in  the  south,  are 
all  cut  off  at  one  fell  stroke,  as  dead  branches,  only  fit 
for  eternal  burnings.  Hear  it !  "All  who  retain  slaves  in 
bondage,  are  men-stealers,  according  to  the  scriptures." 
"Such  commit  a  presumptuous  transgression  of  the  di 
vine  commandments,"  and  "their  claims  to  religion,  &c., 
are  all  before  God  null  and  void."  These  are  the  dis 
organizing  dogmas  of  abolitionism.  To  carry  out,  there 
fore,  these  principles,  they  have  abused  the  ministers  and 
members  of  the  different  churches,  who  live  south  as 
well  as  those  north,  who  resist  abolitionism.  Their  per 
secutions  followed  that  great  and  good  man  of  God,  the 
Rev.  Dr.  Fisk,  from  the  New  England  Methodist  Confe 
rence,  over  the  blue  waters  of  the  Atlantic  to  Europe, 
and  met  him  at  every  point.  They  pursued  him  to  his 
home,  followed  him  to  his  grave,  and  are  not  yet  hush 
ed,  because  that  though  dead,  he  speaks  against  aboli 
tionism.  So  did  they  pursue  and  persecute  Bishop  Hed- 
ding,  Dr.  Bangs,  and  others.  An  effort  has  also  been 
made  to  divide  the  missionary  societies  of  the  large  Bap 
tist  and  Methodist  denominations,  lest  southern  men 
should  give,  to  aid  in  sending  the  gospel  to  the  heathen, 
and  the  offerings  of  abolitionists  should  be  polluted,  by  a 
mingling  with  those  of  southerners.  Many  men  of  true, 
great,  and  undissembled  piety  and  sterling  integrity  at 
the  north,  in  every  church  have  been  denounced ;  even 
whole  conferences,  and  associations,  presbyteries  and 
conventions,  because,  they  have  not  joined  in  the  hue 
and  cry  against  the  southerner. 

Worse,  if  worse  there  can  be;  these  abolitionists  have 
proclaimed  war  against  the  institutions,  civil  and  social, 
of  the  United  States,  as  well  as  against  its  constitution. 
The  dissolution  of  the  union  itself  is  threatened.  Our 
constitution,  in  their  hands,  is  but  a  piece  of  brown  pa 
per,  "a  rope  of  sand,"  only  designed  to  bind,  as  long  as 
they  think  proper.  This  we  shall  see  when  we  look 
more  particularly  at  the  constitutional  provisions  of  the 
union  on  this  subject.  We  do  not  mean  that  common, 
ignorant,  or  untaught  abolitionists,  only  inculcate  such 


179 

principles,  and  are  ready  to  abandon  the  union,  and  give 
up  the  constitution  of  these  states ;  but  men  of  exalted 
talents  and  standing,  Dr.  Channing,  Judge  Jay,  and  others. 
Shall  they  speak  for  themselves?     Hear  Dr.  C.    "The 
slaveholder  must  not  imagine,  that  he  has  nothing  to  do 
but  to  fight  with  a  few  societies.     These  of  themselves 
are  nothing.     He  should  not  waste  on  them  one  fear. 
They  are  strong  only  as  representing  the   spirit  of  the 
Christian  and  civilized  world !    These  are  not  to  be  with 
stood,  by  artful  strokes  of  policy,  or  by  daring  crimes. 
The  world  is  against  him  and  the  world's  Maker."    <lHe 
might   as   well    think  of  imprisoning   the  winds."     "A 
deadly  sophistry  will  weigh  on  men's  consciences  and 
hearts,  until  terrible  convulsions, — God's  just  judgments, 
will  hasten  the  deliverance,"  &c.     "The  fire  now  smo 
thered  will  blaze  out."     "Strange  that  the  south  should 
think  of  securing   its  'peculiar   institutions,'  by   violent 
means."     "Its  violence  necessarily  increases  the  evils  it 
would  suppress."     This  is  bad  enough,  but  hear  again ! 
"Let  no  man  who  feels  the  greatness  of  the  evil  which 
threatens   us,  satisfy  himself  with  unprofitable   regrets; 
but  let  each  embody  his  opposition  in  a  form,  which  will 
give  incitement   to  his  neighbour,   and  act  on  men  in 
power."     "There  is  a  spirit  spreading  through  the  coun 
try,"  (i.  e.)  the  north-east,  "in  regard  to  slavery,  which 
demands  changes  of  the  constitution,  and  which  will  MAS 
TER,  if  it  cannot  change"    Well  done,  Dr.  C !    And  why 
so  ?     Because  "the  authority  of  government,  instead  of 
being  a  reason  for  silence  under  wrongs,  is  a  reason  for 
protesting  against  wrongs."     "It  is  time  that  public  in 
terest  should  no  longer  hallow  injustice,  and  fortify  gov 
ernment,  in   making   the  weak  their  prey."     "Is  it  not 
time  for  the  free  states  to  pause,  to  reflect,  to  weigh  well 
what  they  are  doing  through  the  national  government, 
and  to  resolve  that  they  will  free  themselves,  from  every 
obligation,  to  uphold  an  institution,  which  they  know  to 
be  unjust."     What  more  could  a  traitor  to  the  constitu 
tion  and  country  do  or  say?    Dr.  Channing  refers  them 
to  the  remarks  of  Judge  Jay,  and  recommends  his  views 
of  the  action  of  the  general  government,  on  this  subject 
of  slavery.      Could   it  be  believed  that  such  language 


180 

would  proceed  from  one,  who  has  so  often  smoothly 
counselled  the  abolitionist  and  the  slaveholder  to  keep 
cool?  Is  this  the  forbearance  of  Dr.  C?  Here  is  aboli 
tionism  !  Bound  by  no  law,  averse  to  all  the  bonds  by 
which  this  union  is  preserved,  they  are  ready  to  sacri 
fice  all  on  the  altar  of  fanaticism. 

Once  more  we  must  notice  a  threat  of  Dr.  Channing. 
Speaking  of  slavery  and  its  continuance  this  threat  is 
thrown  out,  which  proves  to  us  that  abolitionists  are 
ready  for  any  thing,  so  it  accomplish  their  ends,  how 
ever  it  may  be  an  infringement  of  law,  social,  moral  or 
civil.  After  all  their  boasted  attachment  to  the  union, 
we  have  from  the  pen  of  the  doctor  these  words,  "This 
cannot,  ought  not  to  be  borne,  it  will  justify,  it  will  at 
length  demand  the  separation  of  the  states."  "For  ONE, 
I  SAY,  that  earnestly  as  I  deprecate  the  separation  of  the 
states,  and  though  this  event  would  disappoint  most  che 
rished  hopes  of  my  country,  still,  I  can  submit  to  it  more 
readily.  I  shrink  from  the  contamination."  "I  am  com 
pelled  to  acknowledge  an  extent  of  corruption  among  us, 
which  menaces  freedom  and  our  dearest  interests,  a  po 
licy  which  will  give  new  and  enduring  impulse  by  cor 
ruption,  which  must  multiply  indefinitely  public  and  pri 
vate  crime.  Public  men  may  in  craft  or  passion  decree 
violence  and  oppression;  but  silently,  irresistibly  they 
and  their  works  are  swept  away."  We  have  only  to 
add  a  sentence  or  two  from  Judge  Jay  and  his  anti- 
slavery  society,  to  show  that  all  these  abolitionists  are 
for  an  infringement  of  all  law,  as  well  as  Dr.  C.,  sooner 
than  not  accomplish  their  ends.  Hear  then  what  they 
say !  "All  those  laws"  (a  broad  expression  indeed) 
"which  are  now  in  force,  admitting  the  right  of  slavery, 
are  therefore  before  God  utterly  NULL  and  VOID."  "We 
maintain  that  congress  has  a  right,  and  is  solemnly  bound 
to  suppress  the  domestic  slave  trade,  between  the  several 
states."  And  again,  "Suppose  the  constitution  did  sanc 
tion  slavery.  What  then?  While  there  is  a  God  in 
heaven,  can  we  feel  bound  by  any  compacts  of  our  own, 
or  any  enactments  of  our  fellow  worms,  to  sin  against 
him."  To  uso  the  bold  language  of  Dr.  Reese,  of  New 
York,  who  deserves  so  much  respect  at  the  hands  of 


181 

southern  men,  for  his  noble  defence  of  them  and  their 
principles,  abolitionism  is  on  the  whole  "the  purest  fanati 
cism,  that  was  ever  exhibited  in  the  history  of  our  race. 
It  blinds  the  eyes,  perverts  the  intellect,  blunts  the  moral 
sense,  hardens  the  heart,  sears  the  conscience,  annihilates 
the  religion  of  its  votaries,  and  practically  teaches,  that 
while  slave-holding  is  a  heinous  crime  'bearing  false  wit 
ness,'  is  no  crime  at  all!  If  this  be  not  fanaticism,  then 
we  know  not  where  it  is  to  be  found."  And  we  may 
add,  and  doubtless  the  intelligent  reader  will  so  conclude 
from  the  precious  morsels  before  him,  which  we  call 
abolition  specimens,  that  fanaticism  is  the  very  best  trait 
in  the  character  of  abolitionists.  That  it  belongs  to  them, 
to  seek  to  reverse  the  very  laws  of  nature,  to  resist  and 
cast  them  aside  as  of  no  account,  when  they  oppose  their 
abstract  notions  of  moral  evil  and  natural  rights,  and  that 
they  are  ready  with  Dr.  C.  and  Judge  Jay,  and  other 
great  leaders,  to  nullify  the  constitution  of  our  common 
country,  and  dissolve  this  union  both  in  principle  and 
practice,  so  that  they  may  but  force  upon  all  the  slave- 
holding  states,  their  dogmas  of  social,  moral,  and  political 
equality.  We  believe,  therefore,  that  from  their  own  tes 
timony,  we  have  answered  the  question,  who  are  abo 
litionists? 

We  now  proceed  to  show  that  they  have  neither  indi 
vidually  nor  collectively,  a  moral  or  political  right  to 
interfere,  in  this  question  of  slavery,  in  the  slave-holding 
states.  Indeed,  there  is  no  man,  that  will  not,  almost  at 
first  view,  when  he  hears  the  sayings,  and  looks  at  the 
deeds  of  abolitionists,  at  once  accede  to  this  as  almost  a 
self-evident  truth.  A  man  who  was  born,  educated,  and 
lives  without  the  borders  of  a  free  and  independent  sove 
reignty,  has  no  moral,  much  less  political  right,  to  inter 
fere  in  the  management  of  its  internal  concerns.  First, 
he  has  no  moral  right.  We  mean  by  this  that  the  man 
who  is  not  an  inhabitant  of  a  slave-holding  state,  but 
actually  a  resident  of  a  free  state,  has  no  absolute,  no 
actual,  no  religious  right,  to  interfere  in  the  condition  or 
internal  concerns  of  that  slave-holding  state.  Now  this 
is  a  plain  proposition,  we  meet  it  plainly.  We  give  Dr. 
Channing  as  proof  that  this  right  is  claimed,  by  aboli- 
16* 


182 

tionists  as  well  their  own  declaration,  and  then  we  assign 
our  reasons  for  coming  to  these  deliberate  conclusions, 
and  adduce  scripture  examples  to  prove  that  we  are  right. 
The  fact  that  Dr.  C.  and  Judge  Jay,  and  others,  have 
written  lengthy  appeals  and  tracts,  addressed  to  the  north 
and  south,  shows  the  light  in  which  they  view  this  subject, 
and  waving  as  we  do  for  the  present,  their  claim  to  a 
political  right  to  interfere,  we  look  at  that  claim  to  a 
moral,  positive  right,  what  we  would  call  a  right  reli 
giously  to  interfere.  "The  present,"  says  Dr.  Charming, 
"is  a  moment  of  bewildering  excitement,  when  men's 
minds  are  stormed  and  darkened  by  strong  passions  and 
fierce  conflicts."  "Slavery,  indeed,  from  its  very  nature, 
must  be  a  ground  of  alarm.  Slavery  ought  to  be  dis 
cussed.  We  ought  to  think  free  and  write  about  it."  "In 
this  point  public  opinion  has  not  been,  and  cannot  be  too 
strongly  pronounced."  "Our  moral  power  should  be 
exerted  for  its  relief."  "The  eternal  law  binds  us  to  take 
the  side  of  the  injured,"  the  slave.  uLet  it  not  be  said 
we"  abolitionists  ucan  do  nothing  for  the  slave.  We 
can  do  much,  we  have  a  power  mightier  than  armies,  the 
power  of  truth."  "All  other  powers  may  fail.  This  must 
triumph.  This  spirit"  (of  abolitionism)  "has  but  begun 
its  work  on  earth.  Slavery  cannot  stand  before  it."  "To 
increase  this  moral  power  is  every  man's  duty" 

Now  if  we  were  so  disposed,  we  could  quote  a  hun 
dred  such  sentences  as  these,  from  Dr.  C.  to  show  this 
claim,  that  abolitionists  make,  to  the  exercise  of  a  moral 
right  to  interfere  in  the  subject  of  slavery,  as  an  institution 
of  other,  and  to  them,  foreign  states.  Moreover  that  he 
claims  it,  not  only  as  a  right,  but  as  the  moral  duty  of 
every  man,  thus  to  interfere,  and  as  we  are  told  by  him 
"every  woman,"  "to  think  of  it,  feel  for  it,  discuss  it, 
write  about  it,"  and  finally  "act  for  its  removal,  bringing 
every  moral  power  to  bear  at  last  against  it."  The 
claim  to  this  moral  power,  is  set  up  by  Dr.  C.  on  the 
ground  that  Christianity  teaches  brotherly  love,  and  that 
as  men  are  bound  to  proclaim  Christian  truth,  and  send 
gospel  light  to  all  the  earth,  so  are  they  bound  to  promote 
the  doctrines  of  abolitionism.  In  other  words  abolition 
ism  and  Christianity  are  synonymous.  This  is  indeed, 


183 

pretty  well,  and  all  who  know  any  thing  of  the  history  of 
fanaticism,  know  that  this  is  the  ground  it  always  takes. 
"We  have  the  scriptures,  they  say  thus  and  so,  we  are 
right,  all  others  are  wrong,  you  must  therefore  come  to 
our  standard,  or  you  are  no  Christian."  Aye  more,  you 
are  "the  enemy  of  all  righteousness."  Now  we  believe, 
we  have  shown  that  both  scripture  precept,  and  scrip 
ture  example,  are  directly  opposed  to  the  intolerant  dog 
mas,  and  high-toned  claims  of  abolitionists,  to  give  in 
struction  on  the  subject  of  slavery,  to  all  the  world.  We 
have  also  shown  that  it  is  contrary  to  the  great  princi 
ple  of  mercy,  when  viewed  in  connexion  with  its  tremen 
dous  consequences,  both  to  the  slave  and  his  owner.  We 
have  moreover  seen  that  it  is  an  infringement  of  the  great 
principle  of  justice,  that  men  who  have  had  slaves  forced 
on  their  fathers,  by  foreign  powers,  whose  fathers  were 
constrained  to  acquire  them  by  payment,  contrary  to  their 
will,  as  property,  and  who  have,  by  a  law  passed  for  self- 
preservation  by  the  government  under  which  they  lived, 
had  them  entailed  on  them  and  their  posterity,  should 
now  be  forced  not  only  to  part  with  that  property,  but  to 
part  with  it,  first  without  any  compensation,  and  second 
ly  in  a  way  repulsive  to  every  feeling  of  nature,  as  well 
as  to  their  principles  of  freedom  and  independence.  All 
who  know  any  thing  at  all  of  justice,  know,  that  there 
must  always  be  an  essential  difference,  between  the  white 
man,  who  has  purchased  the  lands  that  he  occupies,  by 
the  fruits  of  his  labour  and  valor,  and  the  slave  that  came 
hither,  without  any  rights  derived  from  the  country  that 
gave  him  birth,  and  who  had  forfeited  all  he  had  there  by  cap 
ture  in  war,  or  by  inheritance.  He  has  certainly  acquired 
none  here,  and  so  far  from  helping  to  obtain  the  indepen 
dence  of  this  country,  the  slaves  became  the  instruments 
of  most  serious  mischief.  Hence  Virginia,  and  all  the 
confederated  states,  used  in  their  declaration  these  words 
in  1776  :  "They  were  by  the  British  government,  prompt 
ed  to  rise  in  arms  among  us,  those  very  negroes,  whom  by  an 
inhuman  use  of  his  prerogative,"  (the  king  of  England) 
forced  upon  us,  he  "has  refused  us  permission  to  ex 
clude  by  law."  How  unjust  to  raise  without  any  claim, 
such  to  be  citizens  !  But  let  us  not  be  too  fast  on  this  sub- 


184 

ject,  of  moral  right  to  interfere,  in  the  internal  concerns  of 
foreign  states.  Let  me  ask  is  there  any  religion  in  my  in 
terfering  in  the  concerns  of  New  or  Old  England,  in  such 
a  way  as  to  divide  and  place  its  population  in  a  condition,  in 
which,  as  all  past  experience  proves,  though  equal  in  num 
bers,  "they  never  can  be  equals,  and  live  together  in  peace. 
One  or  the  other  must  be  subjugated.  If  the  masters  of 
the  south  were  to  liberate  their  slaves  in  a  body,  or  even 
by  slow  degrees,  without  removing  them  at  the  same 
time  from  the  states  in  which  they  reside,  the  consequence 
would  soon  be,  a  struggle  for  power  and  a  war  of  the 
worst  description.  Now  let  me  ask  is  there  any  religion 
in  seeking  to  accomplish  such  an  end,  in  such  a  way  ? 
Take  the  remarks  of  Dr.  C.  himself  and  give  it  a  moral 
application.  "When  a  negro  fugitive  slave  touches  New 
England,  he  is  free.''  Well !  he  is  but  one  in  a  thousand, 
he  can  do  harm,  but  suppose  three  millions  go  thither. 
How  would  it  be  then  ?  What  may  be  safely  done  with 
a  few,  is  often  very  dangerous  or  impracticable  with 
many.  "And  do  not  the  States  of  Pennsylvania  and 
New  York,  where  are  thousands  of  negroes,  who  have 
either  runaway  from,  or  have  been  emancipated  by  their 
masters,  and  are  said  to  be  admitted  to  all  the  privileges 
of  freemen,  know  by  melancholy  experience,  that  scarcely 
one  in  a  hundred  is  capable  of  rationally  using  that 
blessing?  They  have  abused,  not  enjoyed  it.  A  large 
portion  have  died  miserably,  equal  numbers  have  become 
the  habitual  inmates  of  bridewells,  Penitentiaries,  hospi 
tals,  and  state  prisons,  and  of  the  remainder,  but  a  few, 
very  few,  are  either  moral  in  their  conduct,  decent  in  their 
manners,  or  respectable  in  their  situation."  This  is  the 
testimony  of  some  of  the  most  respectable  and  exalted 
citizens  of  New  York  and  Pennsylvania. 

What  then  must  be  the  condition  of  southern  slaves 
when  turned  loose  ?  Would  it  be  religious  to  do  so,  under 
s'u.h  circumstances,  and  in  view  of  such  painful  expe 
rience  ?  We  know  that  our  morality,  the  morality  incul- 
cpted  in  the  Bible,  is  not  sufficiently  sublimated  for  this 
exquisite  squeamishness  of  the  modern  philanthropy  of 
abolitionists,  "and  it  would  appear  from  their  statements 
that  God  himself  has  changed,  since  he  gave  laws  from 


185 

the  smoking  Sinai,  to  the  whole  world,"  and  inculcated 
by  his  own  Son  and  his  apostles,  the  high  and  holy  duties 
of  master  and  servant.  Is  there  religion  in  this?  Is  there 
any  religion  in  seeking  to  do  that  which  may,  and  which 
actually  does  undermine  the  happiness,  and  destroy  the 
security  of  the  domestic  fireside  of  all  the  South?  That 
of  the  master  as  well  as  his  slave?  That  which  stimu 
lates  the  latter  to  insurrection  and  murder,  and  the  former 
of  consequence,  to  deeds  of  cruelty  and  tyranny  ?  Is 
there  any  religion  in  perverting  the  precepts  of  our  holy 
Christianity  to  purposes  of  defamation,  slander,  insubordi 
nation,  insurrection,  rebellion,  barbarity,  slaughter  and 
ruin?  Who  does  not  see,  that  if  the  established  precepts 
and  examples  of  Christianity,  stand  in  the  way  of  these 
fanatics,  they  throw  them  aside;  if  the  laws  of  the  land 
interfere  with  their  plans,  they  denounce  them  as  impious, 
and  if  the  constitution  of  the  country,  as  it  does,  cut  them 
off  from  the  right  of  interference  in  the  internal  concerns 
of  the  country,  they  are  ready  to  give  it  up,  sooner  than 
let  go  or  give  up  their  favourite  dogmas  ?  Is  this  moral  ? 
Is  this  religious?  Does  CHRISTIANITY  teach  that  such  is 
religion?  That  freedom  which  emanates  from  the  will 
of  the  people,  administered  through  the  medium  of  laws, 
and  guarantied  by  the  faith  of  a  constitution,  is  not  only 
endangered,  but  is  absolutely  prostrated  and  thrown  away, 
by  such  a  course ;  and  when  fanaticism  has  done  its  work 
of  desolation,  and  stands  in  the  midst  of  the  ruins  of  so 
ciety — when  it  has  prostrated  all  the  great  land-marks  of 
our  rights  and  duties,  what  does  it  put  in  the  place  thereof? 
The  arbitrary  exposition  of  a  few  texts  of  Scripture,  and 
the  abstract  ideas  of  individual  LEADERS,  about  moral 
evil  and  natural  rights,  combined  with  the  tales  and  the 
dogmas  of  such  disorganizes.  This  abolitionism  so  far 
as  it  respects  religion,  is  a  heresy,  a  slander  upon  Chris 
tianity.  "It  does  not  look  for  general,  it  looks  only  for 
one  good.  It  sees  but  one  object,  whether  real  or  ima 
ginary.  For  that,  it  will  sacrifice  every  thing  but  its  own 
safety,  which  is  not  to  be  placed  in  jeopardy.'1  Is  the  fol 
lowing,  from  Dr.  Channing,  the  language  of  religion,  the 
language  of  the  Christian  subjects  of  a  government  ?  Aye, 
a  part  of  the  very  source  of  goverment  itself.  "We  are 


186 

for  union,  but  not  slavery.  We  will  give  the  union  for 
the  abolition  of  slavery,  if  nothing  else  will  gain  it,  but 
if  we  cannot  gain  it  at  all,  then  the  South  is  welcome  to 
a  dissolution — the  sooner  the  better.  The  slaveholders 
may  as  well  understand,  first  as  last,  that  the  union  may 
have  other  causes  for  them,  than  that  of  a  lash  to  shake 
over  the  heads  of  northern  freemen."  Another  maintains 
the  right  and  duty  of  the  slaves  "to  cut  the  throats,  or 
poison,  or  consume  with  fire,  his  master  and  all  his  family, 
if  by  so  doing  he  can  free  himself  from  bondage."  The 
slave  is  called  upon  "to  assert  his  right  to  freedom  in  the 
name  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,"  and  at  a  convention  of 
abolitionists,  it  was  laid  down  as  a  principle,  "that  the 
condition  of  slavery  absolves  us,  from  all  the  obligations 
of  mankind,"  granting  to  the  slave,  thus  the  right  to  prey 
as  a  beast  upon,  and  indeed  cut  up  by  the  roots,  the  entire 
social  system.  And  are  these  principles,  these  sayings, 
these  deeds,  religion?  We  trow  not!  Such  a  man  can 
not  see  his  own  family,  his  own  condition,  his  own  heart; 
O  no  !  He  must  look  only  at  the  human  family.  He 
cannot  look  even  at  his  own  state.  The  wicked  South, 
"the  oppressed  slaves,"  nothing  short  of  the  great 
human  family,  can  awaken  his  sympathies.  The  pri 
soner,  the  oppressed  poor,  the  rich  oppressor,  the  destitute 
widow,  the  friendless  orphan,  the  prodigal  drunkard,  are 
all  perhaps  within  a  stone's  cast  of  his  own  door.  There 
is  his  own  wife,  and  there  are  his  own  children,  suffering 
perhaps — it  may  be  are  going  to  hell — at  least,  thousands 
of  his  neighbours  are ;  but  these  little  things  move  him 
not,  nor  the  slaves  of  Hindostan,  nor  the  slaves  of  Africa. 
O  no !  the  slaves  of  the  South,  only  move  upon  the  great 
deep  of  his  benevolent,  and  feeling,  and  pious  heart.  How 
good — how  transcendantly  good,  is  this  religion?  We 
repeat,  we  believe  not  in  it. 

But  say  they,  "every  Christian  is  bound  to  carry  the 
truth  and  the  gospel  to  the  ends  of  the  earth."  But  we 
deny  the  truth  of  abolition  dogmas,  and  they  and  the 
gospel  are  very  different,  as  we  have  seen.  We  presume 
St.  Paul  felt  it  his  duty  to  carry  the  gospel  into  all  the 
world;  he  did  carry  it  into  various  parts  thereof.  But 
then  he  preached  what?  The  gospel — not  abolitionism — 


187 

Dr.  Charming  being  judge.  "The  gospel,"  says  he,  "was 
designed,  not  for  one  race,  or  for  one  time,  but  for  all 
races,  and  all  times.  It  looked  not  at  the  abolition  of 
this  form  of  evil,  for  that  age  alone."  "If  it  had  pro 
claimed  the  unlawfulness  of  slavery,  and  taught  slaves  to 
resist  the  oppression  of  their  masters,  it  would  have  in 
stantly  arrayed  the  two  parties  in  deadly  hostility,  through 
out  the  civilized  world ;  its  announcement  would  have 
been  the  signal  of  a  servile  war,  and  the  very  name  of 
the  Christian  religion  would  have  been  forgotten,  amidst 
the  agitations  of  universal  bloodshed."  But  further  hear 
the  doctor,  who  allows  it  to  be  a  fact  that,  "under  these 
circumstances,  the  gospel  does  not  forbid  slavery."  Just 
let  the  reader  hear  Dr.  Channing  once  more.  "Slavery, 
in  the  age  of  the  apostle  Paul,  had  so  penetrated  society, 
was  so  intimately  interwoven  with  it,  and  the  materials 
of  a  servile  war  were  so  abundant,  that  a  religion  preach 
ing  freedom  to  its  victims,  would  have  shaken  the  social 
fabric  to  its  foundation,  and  would  have  armed  against 
itself  the  whole  power  of  the  state.  Of  consequence, 
Paul  did  not  assail  it."  This  is  more  than  we  of  the 
South  have  ever  said.  Well  done  Dr.  Channing.  We 
hope  your  excellent  testimony  will  have  its  effect  on  abo 
litionists.  We  know  you  are  good  authority  with  the 
AMERICAN  ANTI-SLAVERY  SOCIETY,  that  has  stereotyped 
your  abolition  works.  Carry  out  then,  abolition  brethren, 
these  doctrines  of  the  Bible,  and  all  will  be  well.  We 
deliberately  conclude,  and  we  believe,  we  have  proved 
conclusively,  in  the  preceding  pages,  and  in  these  re 
marks — first,  by  reason ;  secondly,  by  revelation  ;  thirdly, 
by  the  natural  tendency  of  things ;  and  lastly,  by  Dr.  Chan 
ning  himself,  that  abolitionists  have  no  moral  right  to 
interfere  in  the  matter  of  southern  slavery. 

We  come  now  to  consider  the  question,  have  they  any 
political  right  ?  And  before  we  proceed  one  step  farther, 
we  will  let  the  great  Dr.  Channing,  who  does,  with  all  his 

freatness,  appear  to  us  a  medley  of  contradictions,  answer 
imself,  the  question.     We  declare  it  is  enough  to  make 
a  man  start,  to  see  such  a  learned  divine  writing,  book 
upon  book,  each  one  of  which  is  nothing  more  or  less 
than  an  interference  in  our  matters  and  our  rights,  and 


188 

then  all  at  once  turning  about,  he  pens  that  sentence 
which  we  are  about  to  quote,  by  which  the  positive  de 
claration  is  made,  that  the  free  states  have  no  right  to 
interfere  in  this  question  at  all.  That  each  state  must 
act  for  itself  on  this  subject.  And  beside  all  this,  that 
the  North  has  neither  the  moral  or  political  right  to  inter 
fere  in  the  internal  concerns  of  the  South,  on  any  subject, 
and  especially  on  that  of  slavery.  But  hear  Dr.  Chan- 
ning  again.  "I  know  that  it  is  said  that  nothing  but 
political  action  can  put  slavery  down ;"  i.  e.  abolitionists 
say  so.  "The  free  states  cannot  rightfully  use  the  power 
of  their  legislatures,  or  of  congress  to  abolish  slavery  in 
the  states  where  it  is  established.  On  this  subject  our 
fathers  swerved  from  the  right."  And  again — "An 
avowed  object"  (of  the  doctor's  abolition  friends,  and 
that  also  in  his  own  writings)  "is  now  proposed,"  he  says, 
"to  be  effected  by  an  amendment  of  the  constitution,  as 
a  means  of  removing  us"  abolitionists  "from  a  participa 
tion  of  the  guilt  of  slavery."  Truly  then  doctor,  none  of 
you  now  have  the  right  to  interfere.  O  yes !  hear  the 
doctor  again.  'cThe  free  states  should  take  the  high 
ground  of  duty,  and  to  raise  them  to  this  height,  the  press, 
the  pulpit,  and  religious  and  upright  men  should  join  their 
powers;"  "that  emancipation  at  the  seat  of  government 
be  insisted  on,"  "or  let  congress  establish  itself  elsewhere. 
The  great  difficulty  in  the  way  of  the  amendment  now 
proposed,"  by  abolitionists  of  freeing  southern  negroes, 
"is  the  article  in  the  constitution"  of  the  United  States. 
"A  state  obeying  this,  seems  to  me  to  contract  as  great 
guilt,  as  if  it  were  to  bring  slaves  from  Africa."  These 
insurrectionary,  and  sorry  I  am  to  say  it,  rebellious  at 
tacks  of  Dr.  Charming,  on  the  constitution,  go  at  least  to 
show  that  we  have  taken  one  position  that  is  right,  viz. 
that  congress  itself,  much  less  an  individual  state,  has  no 
right  to  interfere  in  the  internal  concerns  of  any  state. 

Having  adduced  Dr.  C.  to  prove  what  we  proposed  for 
the  benefit  of  northern  brethren,  whether  abolitionists  or 
opponents  to  them,  as  well  as  for  the  information  of  our 
southern  fellow-citizens,  we  also  give  our  own  and  the 
views  of  others.  As  it  respects  our  own  views  they  can 
be  given  in  a  few,  very  few  words.  1.  Each  state  in  the 


189 

union,  is  a  free  and  independent  sovereignty,  superior  to 
any  other  power  within  the  same,  and  also  to  all  others 
without  it,  except  what  has  been  voluntarily  yielded,  for 
mutual  safety,  in  that  compact  entered  into  with  other 
independent  states ;  which  compact  or  treaty  of  mutual 
support  and  assistance,  commonly  called  the  CONSTITU 
TION,  forms  the  basis  of  the  federal  government.  2.  This 
constitution  contains  what  these  high  contracting  parties 
saw  proper  to  adopt.  3.  It  must  be  expounded  by  its 
words  only,  and  by  no  law  or  rule  of  experience.  To 
do  this  would  be  to  throw  up  the  whole.  4.  That  writ 
ten  code  of  principles  agreed  on,  defines  the  power  to  be 
exercised,  and  by  who-m  it  may  or  is  to  be  exercised,  and 
how  long,  &c.  What  is  granted  may  be  done,  provided 
it  be  done  in  the  way  prescribed.  What  is  not  granted 
ought  not,  and  must  not  be  done  at  all.  To  do  this 
would  be  to  destroy  and  break  that  compact.  And 
whether  we  view  it  as  a  contract  between  sovereign 
states,  to  establish  and  maintain  a  government,  for  the 
common  good  of  the  states,  and  the  inhabitants  thereof: 
or  a  contract  between  each  state  arid  all  other  states,  to 
establish  and  maintain  a  government  to  the  same  end ; 
or  a  contract  between  each  citizen  dwelling  within  the 
United  States,  and  all  other  citizens,  to  establish  and 
maintain  a  government  for  the  good  of  the  whole,  with 
limited  and  defined  powers,  providing  that  all  powers  not 
granted  are  reserved  to  the  states  or  to  the  people,  it  is  all 
the  same.  Whilst  the  state  governments  continue  to  ex 
ercise  various  powers,  according  to  the  will  of  the  people 
in  each  state,  in  the  manner  in  which  their  peculiar  cir 
cumstances  may  require,  the  general  government  exer 
cises  other  and  distinct  powers,  for  the  general  welfare 
of  the  whole  nation,  and  only  in  those  matters,  in  which, 
the  whole  nation  have  a  common  interest.  By  this  con 
stitution  the  representation  from  the  slave-holding  states, 
is  for  the  entire  white  population  and  three-fifths  of  the 
slave  population,  and  this  too,  with  the  vote  of  the  north. 
Who  is  there  that  cannot,  and  will  not  see,  that,  no  indi 
vidual  state  has  the  power  to  wrest  from  the  other,  any 
one  of  its  political  privileges  or  rights,  or  to  interfere  in 
its  internal  concerns  ?  Suppose  for  instance  that  Virginia 
17 


190 

should  claim  the  right  to  have  her  free  or  worn-out  ne 
groes  quartered  on  Massachusetts,  by  emigration  ;  would 
she  have  the  power  to  do  it,  or  the  general  government  the 
power  to  enforce  such  a  demand  ?  Suppose  she  should 
demand  that  the  poor  girls  and  boys  in  the  factories, 
should  be  only  worked  six  or  eight  hours,  instead  of  four 
teen  out  of  twenty-four,  what  would  Massachusetts  say  ? 
Would  it  not  be  "brethren,  mind  your  own  business." 
Aye,  more — does  not  Dr.  C.  say  this  and  say  it  of  mat 
ters  too,  where  we  are  actually  bound  by  the  constitution  ? 
After  admitting  that  Massachusetts  breaks  the  constitu 
tion  in  the  case  of  fugitive  slaves,  he  says,  "the  people  of 
Massachusetts  go  with  the  civilized  and  Christian  world. 
The  south  should  understand,  resistance  is  idle,"  "neither 
policy  nor  violence  can  avail ;  and  what  is  more,  they 
have  no  right  to  reproach  us,  with  letting  this  provision 
of  the  constitution  die  among  us."  What,  Doctor,  no 
right  to  interfere  when  the  constitution  authorises  it  in 
your  own  concerns,  how  then  came  you  to  have  the 
right  to  interfere  in  ours,  without  any  constitutional  war 
rant  whatever  ? 

On  the  subject  however,  of  this  political  right,  we  take 
a  great  pleasure  in  referring  to  a  most  excellent  essay 
upon  the  constitutional  rights  as  to  slave  property,  lately 
published  in  the  Southern  Literary  Messenger,  written 
by  CONWAY  ROBINSON,  esq.  an  eminent  attorney  at  law, 
in  Richmond,  Virginia.  It  is  entitled,  "An  Essay  upon 
the  Constitutional  Rights  as  to  Slave  Property."  We 
could  indeed  wish  that  our  limits  would  admit  of  quoting 
this  whole  essay.  That  being  impracticable,  we  give 
some  of  the  authorities  and  also  some  of  the  opinions  of 
its  learned  and  talented  author,  that  bear  more  immediate 
ly  on  the  point  now  in  hand.  The  editor  introduces  these 
views  thus.  "The  article  is  written  in  a  calm  and  can 
did  manner,  and  reflects  much  credit  upon  the  industry 
and  judgment  of  its  author.  He  has  rendered  an  impor 
tant  service  to  his  own  state,  and  presented,  by  an  array 
of  facts,  a  powerful  appeal  to  the  state  with  which  she 
is  in  controversy.  We  think  that  our  readers  will  be 
much  interested*  and  instructed  in  its  perusal.  We  are 
not  aware  that  we  are  taking  an  improper  liberty,  when 


191 

we  mention  that  its  author  is  Conway  Robinson,  esq.  of 
this  city.  Let  it  be  read  with  calmness,  impartiality  and 
reflection. — Ed.  Messenger"  We  give  the  reader  our 
quotations  from  it.  "The  great  importance  of  this  sub 
ject,  and  the  increased  and  increasing  interest  with  which 
it  is  viewed  in  every  part  -of  our  country,  justify  the  belief 
that  an  examination  of  the  provisions  of  the  constitution, 
on  which  the  owners  of  slave  property  wrere  induced  to 
rely,  when  the  federal  compact  was  formed,  a  sketch  of 
the  laws  which  congress  has  passed  to  carry  out  those 
constitutional  provisions,  and  a  review  of  the  judicial  de 
cisions  which  have  been  made  under  the  constitution  and 
laws,  may  prove  acceptable  to  the  readers  of  this  journal, 
and  not  be  without  utility  at  the  present  time.  As 
matter  which  is  introductory  and  somewhat  explanatory, 
we  shall  commence  by  giving  an  outline  of  the  laws  as  to 
slavery,  which  at  the  time  the  federal  constitution  was 
adopted  and  subsequently  thereto,  have  prevailed  in  three 
most  important  northern  states.  We  mean  New  York, 
Pennsylvania,  and  Massachusetts. 

"1.  Laws  as  to  slavery  in  the  northern  states. — The 
law,  as  to  slavery  in  Massachusetts,  is  stated  by  Chief 
Justice  Parsons  in  a  case  which  came  before  the  Su 
preme  Court  of  that  state  thus,  'slavery,'  he  says,  'was 
introduced  into  this  country  soon  after  its  first  settlement, 
and  was  tolerated  until  the  ratification  of  the  present 
constitution.  The  slave  was  the  property  of  his  master, 
subject  to  his  orders,  and  to  reasonable  correction  for 
misbehaviour — was  transferable  like  a  chattel  by  gift  or 
sale,  and  was  assets  in  the  hands  of  his  executors  or  ad 
ministrator.  If  the  master  was  guilty  of  a  cruel  or  un 
reasonable  castigation  of  his  slave,  he  was  liable  to  be 
punished  for  the  breach  of  the  peace;  and,  I  believe,  the 
slave  was  allowed  to  demand  sureties  of  the  peace 
against  a  violent  and  barbarous  master,  which  generally 
caused  a  sale  to  another  master.  And  the  issue  of  the 
female  slave,  according  to  the  maxim  of  the  civil  law, 
was  the  property  of  her  master.  Under  these  regula 
tions,  the  treatment  of  slaves  was  in  general  mild  and 
humane,  and  they  suffered  hardships  not  greater  than 
hired  servants.  Slaves  were  sometimes  permitted  to  en- 


192 

joy  some  privileges  as  a  peculuem,  with  the  profits  of 
which  they  were  enabled  to  purchase  their  manumission, 
and  liberty  was  frequently  granted  to  a  faithful  slave,  by 
the  bounty  of  the  master,  sometimes  in  his  life,  but  more 
commonly  by  his  will.'  In  New  York,  it  was  declared 
by  one  of  the  colonial  statutes,  that  all  due  encouragement 
ought  to  be  given  to  the  direct  importation  of  slaves. 
After  the  revolution,  the  government  of  that  state  deter 
mined  upon  a  different  policy.  The  act  was  hostile  to 
the  importation  and  to  the  exportation  of  slaves,  as  an 
article  of  trade,  not  to  the  existence  of  slavery  itself;  for 
it  took  care  to  re-enact  and  establish  the  maxim  of  the 
civil  law,  that  the  children  of  every  female  slave  should 
follow  the  state  and  condition  of  the  mother.  It  was  not 
considered  to  prevent  a  sheriff  from  taking  or  selling  a 
slave  under  an  execution  against  the  owner ;  and  the 
slave  was  subject  to  the  control  and  disposition  of  the 
executor  or  administrator  of  a  deceased  owner,  in  the 
same  manner  as  other  personal  property.  The  prohibi 
tion  was  against  a  voluntary  sale  by  the  master  of  the 
slave,  imported  or  brought  into  the  state.  The  statute 
imposed  a  penalty  for  harbouring  slaves  or  servants;  and 
it  was  held  moreover  that  this  was  cumulative,  and  did 
not  destroy  the  common  law  remedy  which  a  master  had 
by  action,  to  recover  damages  for  seducing  and  harbour 
ing  his  servant.  The  master  might  confine  his  slave  in 
jail,  and  this  it  appears  was  done  in  a  case  decided  as 
late  as  1823.  The  act  of  the  legislature  of  Pennsylva 
nia,  for  the  gradual  abolition  of  slavery,  passed  on  the 
1st  of  March,  1780.  By  this  act  every  person,  who  at 
the  time  of  passing  it  was  a  slave,  was  to  remain  a 
slave,  unless  his  owner  omitted  to  register  him  on  or  be 
fore  the  1st  day  of  November  ensuing.  Children  born 
after  the  passing  of  the  act,  were  born  free,  subject  how 
ever  to  a  temporary  servitude  till  the  age  of  twenty- 
eight  :  and  the  issue  of  such  children  could  not  be  held 
to  any  servitude.  At  the  time  of  the  convention,  the 
experience  of  the  states  south  of  Pennsylvania  was  such 
as  to  produce  distrust  of  their  northern  brethren  as  to 
the  safety  of  their  property  in  slaves.  It  was  no  easy 
task  to  reconcile  the  local  interests  and  discordant  pre- 


193 

possessions  of  the  different  sections  of  the  United  States; 
but  the  business  was  accomplished  by  acts  of  concession 
and  mutual  condescension. 

"2.  Provisions  made  by  the  Federal  Convention,  for  the 
security  of  the  south. — The  original  articles  of  confedera 
tion  contained  a  clause  in  the  following  words:    llf  any 
person  guilty  of,  or  charged  with  treason,  felony,  or  high 
misdemeanor  in  any  state,  shall  flee  from  justice,  and  be 
foupd  in  any  of  the  United  States,  he  shall,  upon  demand 
of  the  government  or  executive  power  of  the  state  from 
which  he  fled,  be  delivered  up  and  removed  to  the  state 
having  jurisdiction  of  his  offence/     In  the  convention  of 
1787.  the  committee  to  whom  were  referred  the  proceed 
ings  of  the  convention,  for  the  purpose  of  reporting  a 
constitution,  reported  a  draft,  in  which  the  fifteenth  arti 
cle  was  as  follows :    'Any  person  charged  with  treason, 
felony,  or  high  misdemeanor  in  any  state,  who  shall  flee 
from  justice  and  shall  be  found  in  any  other  stale,  shall, 
on  demand  of  the  executive  power  of  the  state  from 
which  he  fled,  be  delivered  up  and  removed  to  the  state 
having  jurisdiction   of  the   offence.'      When   the  draft 
was  before  the  convention,  on  the  28th  of  August,  1787, 
it  was    moved   to   strike   out   the    words    'high    misde 
meanor,'   and    insert    the    words   'other   crime ;'   which 
motion  passed   in  the  affirmative.     On  the  next  day,  a 
motion  was  made  to  agree  to  the  following  proposition, 
to  be  inserted  after  the  fifteenth  article :     'If  any  person 
bound   to  service  or  labour,  in  any  of  the  United  States, 
shall  escape  into  another  state,  he  or  she  shall  not  be  dis 
charged  from  such  service  or  labour,  in  consequence  of 
any  regulation   subsisting   in   the   state   to   which    they 
escape,  but  shall   be   delivered  up  to  the  person  justly 
claiming  their  service  or  labour.'     This  proposition  was 
unanimously  adopted.    Afterwards,  a  committee  was  ap 
pointed   to  revise  the  style  of,  and  arrange  the  articles 
agreed  to  by  the  house.    The  second  section  of  the  fourth 
article,  reported  by  the  committee  of  revision,  contained 
the  following  clauses :    'A  person  charged  in  any  state 
with  treason,  felony,  or  other  crime,  who  shall  flee  from 
justice  and  be  found  in  another  state,  shall,  on  demand  of 
the  executive  authority  of  the  state  from  which  he  fled,  be 
17* 


194 

delivered  up,  and  removed  to  the  state  having  jurisdiction 
of  the  crime.'  'No  person  legally  held  to  service  or  la 
bour,  in  one  state,  escaping  into  another,  shall,  in  conse 
quence  of  regulations  subsisting  therein,  be  discharged 
from  such  service  or  labour,  but  shall  be  delivered  up  on 
claim  of  the  party  to  whom  such  service  or  labour  may 
be  due.'  The  federal  constitution,  as  adopted,  contains 
the  clauses  thus  reported,  with  some  amendment.  In  the 
first  clause  the  words  'to  be  removed,'  are  in  place  of 
the  words  'and  removed.'  In  the  second  clause,  the 
change  of  language  is  more  striking.  The  word  'legal 
ly'  is  struck  out,  and  after  the  word  'state,'  the  words 
'under  the  laws  thereof,'  inserted ;  and  the  expression, 
'regulations  subsisting  therein,'  is  substituted  by  the  words 
'any  law  or  regulations  therein.' 

"3.  Debates  in  the  state  conventions. — When  the  Virgi 
nia  convention  were  considering  w'hether  they  would 
assent  to,  and  ratify  the  federal  constitution,  Mr.  Madison, 
amongst  other  things,  said — 'It  is  worthy  of  our  consi 
deration,  that  those  who  prepared  the  paper  on  the  table, 
found  difficulties  not  to  be  described,  in  its  formation — 
mutual  deference  and  concession  were  absolutely  neces 
sary.  Had  they  been  inflexibly  tenacious  of  their  indi 
vidual  opinions,  they  would  never  have  concurred.  Under 
what  circumstances  was  it  formed?  When  no  party 
was  formed,  or  particular  prepossession  made,  and  men's 
minds  were  calm  and  dispassionate.  Yet,  under  these 
circumstances,  it  was  difficult,  extremely  difficult,  to 
agree  to  any  general  system.'  The  members  of  the 
Virginia  convention  were  nearly  equally  divided  upon 
the  question  of  ratification,  and  the  opposition  embraced 
a  very  considerable  proportion  of  the  talent  of  the  state. 
Amongst  the  opponents,  there  were  none  more  decided 
or  more  zealous,  than  George  Mason  and  Patrick  Henry. 
When  the  section,  declaring  that  the  importation  of  such 
persons  as  any  of  the  states  might  think  proper  to  admit, 
should  not  be  prohibited  by  congress,  prior  to  the  year 
1808,  was  under  consideration,  Mr.  George  Mason  said — 
'As  m.v;h  as  I  value  an  union  of  all  the  states,  I  would 
not  admit  the  southern  states*  into  the  union,  unless  they 

*  By  "southern  states"  were  meant  South  Carolina  and  Georgia. 


195 

agreed  to  the  discontinuance  of  this  disgraceful  trade ; 
because  it  would  bring  weakness  and  not  strength  to  the 
union.  And  though  this  infamous  traffic  be  continued, 
we  have  no  security  for  the  property  of  that  kind  which 
we  have  already.  There  is  no  clause  in  this  constitution 
to  secure  it;  for  they  may  lay  such  tax  as  will  amount 
to  manumission.'  Mr.  Madison  answered  these  objec 
tions  as  follows :  'I  should  conceive  this  clause  to  be 
impolitic,  if  it  were  one  of  those  things  which  could  be 
excluded  without  encountering  greater  evils.  The  south 
ern  states  would  not  have  entered  into  the  union  of 
America,  without  the  temporary  permission  of  that  trade. 
And  if  they  were  excluded  from  the  union,  the  conse 
quences  might  be  dreadful  to  them  and  to  us.  We  are 
not  in  a  worse  situation  than  before.  That  traffic  is  pro 
hibited  by  our  laws,  and  we  may  continue  the  prohibition. 
The  union  in  general  is  not  in  a  worse  situation.  Under 
the  articles  of  the  confederation  it  might  be  continued 
forever,  but  by  this  clause,  an  end  may  be  put  to  it  after 
twenty  years.  There  is,  therefore,  an  amelioration  of 
our  circumstances.  A  tax  may  be  laid  in  the  meantime, 
but  it  is  limited,  otherwise  congress  might  lay  such  a  tax 
as  would  amount  to  a  prohibition.  From  the  mode  of 
representation  and  taxation,  congress  cannot  lay  such  a 
tax  on  slaves  as  will  amount  to  manumission.  Another 
clause  secures  us  that  property  which  we  now  possess. 
At  present,  if  any  slave  elopes  to  any  of  those  states 
where  slaves  are  free,  he  becomes  emancipated  by  their 
laws.  For  the  laws  of  the  states  are  uncharitable  to  one 
another  in  this  respect.  But  by  this  constitution,  'no 
person  held  to  service  or  labour  in  one  state,  under  the 
laws  thereof,  escaping  into  another,  shall,  in  consequence 
of  any  law  or  regulation  therein,  be  discharged  from 
such  service  or  labour, but  shall  be  delivered  upon  claim 
of  the  party  to  whom  such  service  or  labour  may  be  due.' 
This  clause  was  expressly  inserted,  to  enable  owners  of 
slaves  to  reclaim  them.  This  is  a  better  security  than 
any  that  now  exists.  No  power  is  given  to  the  general 
government  to  interpose,  with  respect  to  the  property  in 
slaves  now  held  by  the  states.  The  taxation  of  this  state 
being  equal  only  to  its  representation,  such  a  tax  cannot 


196 

be  laid  as  he  supposes.'  Patrick  Henry  endeavoured  lo 
support  the  objection,  that  if  the  constitution  were  adopt 
ed,  congress  might  abolish  slavery.  'As  much,'  said 
he,  'as  I  deplore  slavery,  I  see  that  prudence  forbids 
abolition.  I  deny  that  the  general  government  ought  to 
set  them  free ;  because  a  decided  majority  of  the  states 
have  not  the  ties  of  sympathy  and  fellow-feeling,  for  those 
whose  interest  would  be  affected  by  the  emancipation. 
The  majority  of  congress  is  to  the  north,  and  the  slaves 
are  to  the  south.  In  this  situation,  I  see  a  great  deal  of 
the  property  of  the  people  of  Virginia  in  jeopardy,  and 
their  peace  and  tranquillity  gone  away ;  I  repeat  it  again, 
that  it  would  rejoice  my  soul  that  every  one  of  my  fellow- 
beings  was  emancipated.  As  we  ought  with  gratitude 
to  admire  that  decree  of  heaven,  which  has  numbered  us 
among  the  free,  we  ought  to  lament  and  deplore  the  ne 
cessity  of  holding  our  fellow-men  in  bondage.  But  is  it 
practicable  by  any  human  means,  to  liberate  them,  with 
out  producing  the  most  dreadful  and  ruinous  consequen 
ces?  We  ought  to  possess  them  in  the  manner  we  have 
inherited  them  from  our  ancestors,  as  their  manumission 
is  incompatible  with  the  felicity  of  our  country.  But  we 
ought  to  soften,  as  much  as  possible,  the  rigour  of  their 
unhappy  fate.'  Mr.  Henry  was  answered  by  Governor 
Randolph:  'I  ask,'  said  he,  'and  I  will  ask  again  and 
again,  until  I  be  answered,  (not  by  declamation,)  where 
is  the  part  that  has  a  tendency  to  the  abolition  of  slavery? 
Is  it  the  clause  which  says  that  'the  migration  or  impor 
tation  of  such  persons,  as  any  of  the  states  now  existing, 
shall  think  proper  to  admit,  shall  not  be  prohibited  by 
congress,  prior  to  the  year  1808?'  This  is  an  exception 
from  the  pov/er  of  regulating  commerce,  and  the  restric 
tion  is  only  to  continue  till  1808.  Then  congress  can, 
by  the  exercise  of  that  power,  prevent  future  importa 
tions;  but  does  it  affect  the  existing  state  of  slavery? 
Were  it  right  here  to  mention  what  passed  in  convention 
on  the  occasion,  I  might  tell  you  that  the  southern  states, 
even  South  Carolina  herself,  conceived  this  property  to 
be  secure  by  these  words.  I  believe,  whatever  we  may 
think  here,  that  there  was  not  a  member  of  the  Virginia 
delegation,  who  had  the  smallest  suspicion  of  the  abolition 


197 

of  slavery.  Go  to  their  meaning.  Point  out  the  clause 
where  this  formidable  power  of  emancipation  is  inserted. 
But  another  clause  of  the  constitution  proves  the  absur 
dity  of  the  supposition.  The  words  of  the  clause  are, 
'No  person  held  to  service  or  labour  in  one  state,  under 
the  laws  thereof,  escaping  into  another,  shall,  in  conse 
quence  of  any  law  or  regulation  therein,  be  discharged 
from  such  service  or  labour;  but  shall  be  delivered  upon 
claim  of  the  party  to  whom  such  service  or  labour  may 
be  due.'  Every  one  knows  that  slaves  are  held  to  service 
or  labour;  and  when  authority  is  given  to  owners  of 
slaves  to  vindicate  their  property,  can  it  be  supposed  they 
can  be  deprived  of  it  ?  If  a  citizen  of  this  state,  in  con 
sequence  of  this  clause,  can  take  his  runaway  slave  in 
Maryland,  can  it  be  seriously  thought,  that  after  taking 
him  and  bringing  him  home,  he  could  be  made  free? 

"The  sentiment  of  North  Carolina,  like  that  of  Virginia, 
was  strongly  opposed  to  any  continuance  of  the  importa 
tion  of  slaves;  but  in  both  states,  it  was  equally  neces 
sary  to  satisfy  the  minds  of  the  people,  that  the  property 
then  existing  in  slaves  was  secured  and  protected.  When 
in  the  convention  of  North  Carolina,  the  last  clause  of 
the  second  section  of  the  fourth  article  was  read,  Mr. 
Iredell  explained  the  reason  of  the  clause.  'In  some  of 
the  northern  states,'  he  observed,  'they  have  emanci 
pated  all  their  slaves.  If  any  of  our  slaves  go  there,  and 
remain  there  a  certain  time,  they  would,  by  the  present 
laws,  be  entitled  to  their  freedom,  so  that  their  masters 
could  not  get  them  again.  This  would  be  extremely  pre 
judicial  to  the  inhabitants  of  the  southern  states,  and  to 
prevent  it,  this  clause  is  inserted  in  the  constitution. 
Though  the  word  slave  be  not  mentioned,  this  is  the  mean 
ing  of  it.  The  northern  delegates,  owing  to  their  peculiar 
scruples  on  the  subject  of  slavery,  did  not  choose  the  word 
slave  to  be  mentioned/  On  the  other  hand,  the  counte 
nance  given  by  the  constitution  to  slavery,  was  urged  to 
the  North  as  a  reason  against  ratifying  it.  Upon  this 
subject,  the  following  sensible  remarks  were  made  in  the 
convention  of  Massachusetts,  by  General  Heath :  «I  ap 
prehend,'  said  he,  'that  it  is  not  in  our  power  to  do  any 
thing  for  or  against  those  who  are  in  slavery  in  the 


198 

southern  states.  No  gentleman  within  these  walls  detests 
every  idea  of  slavery  more  than  I  do.  It  was  generally 
detested  by  the  people  of  this  commonwealth ;  and  I  ar 
dently  hope  that  the  time  will  soon  come,  when  our  bre 
thren  in  the  southern  states  will  view  it  as  we  do,  and 
put  a  stop  to  it ;  but  to  this  we  have  no  right  to  compel 
them.  Two  questions  naturally  arise.  If  we  ratify  the 
constitution,  shall  we  do  any  thing  by  our  act  to  hold  the 
blacks  in  slavery,  or  shall  we  become  the  partakers  of 
other  men's  sins?  I  think,  neither  of  them.  Each  state 
is  sovereign  and  independent,  to  a  certain  degree;  and 
they  have  a  right,  and  will  regulate  their  own  internal 
affairs,  as  to  themselves  appears  proper ;  and  shall  we 
refuse  to  eat  or  drink,  or  to  be  united  with  those  who  do 
not  think  or  act  just  as  we  do  ?  Surely  not ;  we  are  not, 
in  this  case,  partakers  of  other  men's  sins;  for  in  nothing 
do  we  voluntarily  encourage  the  slavery  of  our  fellow- 
men.'  Sentiments  of  this  character  prevailed;  and  such 
should  now  govern  the  conduct  of  the  north. 

"4.  Judicial  decisions  as  to  fugitives  from  labour. — The 
second  section  of  the  fourth  article  of  the  constitution,  is 
confined  to  persons  held  to  service  or  labour  in  one  state, 
under  the  laws  thereof,  who  escape  into  another.  When 
the  master  voluntarily  carries  his  slave  from  one  state 
into  another,  that  master  must  abide  by  the  laws  of  the 
latter  state,  so  far  as  they  may  affect  his  right  in  the 
slave.  But  if  the  slave  comes  from  one  state  into  another, 
in  any  other  way  than  by  the  consent  of  the  owner,  whe 
ther  he  comes  in  as  a  fugitive  or  runaway,  or  is  brought 
in  by  those  who  have  no  authority  so  to  do,  he  cannot  be 
discharged  under  any  law  of  the  latter  state,  but  must 
be  delivered  up  on  claim  of  the  party  to  whom  his  ser 
vice  or  labour  may  be  due.  A  slave  is  incapable  of  con 
tracting,  so  far  as  to  impair  the  right  of  his  master  to 
reclaim  him ;  and  if  a  private  individual  sue  out  process, 
or  interfere  otherwise  with  the  master's  claim,  under  the 
pretence  of  a  debt  contracted  by  the  slave,  such  interfe 
rence  will  be  deemed  illegal,  and  the  claimant  will  have 
a  right  of  action  for  any  injury  he  may  receive  by  such 
obstruction.  If  a  person  shall,  in  violation  of  the  act  of 
congress,  knowingly  and  willingly,  obstruct  or  hinder 


199 

the  claimant  in  seizing  the  fugitive,  he  cannot,  when  sued 
for  the  penalty  of  five  hundred  dollars,  prescribed  by  the 
act,  set  up  as  a  defence,  ignorance  of  the  law,  or  even  an 
honest  belief  that  the  person  claimed  as  a  fugitive  did  not 
owe  service  to  the  claimant.  Such  matters  are  unfit  for 
the  inquiry  of  a  jury.  It  is  sufficient  to  bring  the  defen 
dant  within  the  provisions  of  the  law,  if  having  notice, 
either  by  the  verbal  declarations  of  those  who  had  the 
fugitive  in  custody,  or  were  attempting  to  seize  him,  or 
by  circumstances  brought  home  to  the  defendant,  that 
the  person  was  a  fugitive,  or  was  arrested  as  such,  he 
persists,  nevertheless,  in  obstructing  the  seizure,  or  in 
making  a  rescue,  and  the  offence  is  complete,  although 
the  claimant  should  ultimately  succeed  in  arresting  or 
recovering  possession  of  the  fugitive.  The  act  of  con 
gress  confers  only  a  limited  authority  upon  the  magistrate 
to  examine  into  the  claim  of  the  alleged  owner;  and, 
being  satisfied  on  that  point,  to  grant  him  a  certificate  to 
that  effect.  This  is  the  commencement  and  termination 
of  his  duty.  The  effect  of  a  certificate  given  by  a  judge 
or  magistrate,  under  the  act  of  congress,  has  been  much 
discussed  in  the  cases  which  have  arisen  in  the  northern 
states ;  and  decisions  have  been  made  upon  the  subject 
by  the  highest  judicial  tribunals  in  several  of  the  states. 

"In  1819,  a  coloured  man,  claimed  by  a  citizen  of  Ma 
ryland  as  a  fugitive  from  his  service,  was  arrested  by 
him  in  the  county  of  Philadelphia,  and  carried  before  a 
justice  of  the  peace,  who  committed  the  man  to  prison, 
in  order  that  inquiry  might  be  made  into  the  claim.  The 
man  then  sued  out  a  'habeas  corpus,'  returnable  before 
a  judge  of  the  court  of  Common  Pleas.  The  judge,  after 
hearing  the  parties,  gave  a  certificate  that  it  appeared  to 
him  by  sufficient  testimony,  that  the  man  owed  labour  or 
service  to  the  claimant  from  whom  he  had  absconded, 
and  delivered  the  certificate  to  the  claimant  that  he  might 
remove  the  man  to  the  state  of  Maryland.  A  writ  de 
homine  replegiendowas  then  sued  out  by  the  man  against 
the  keeper  of  the  prison ;  and  the  counsel  for  the  claim 
ant  moved  to  quash  it,  on  the  ground  of  its  having  issued 
contrary  to  the  constitution  and  laws  of  the  United 
States.  The  matter  was  regarded  by  the  Supreme  Court 


200 

of  Pennsylvania  as  of  considerable  importance,  and  it 
was  therefore  held  some  days  under  advisement.  Chief 
Justice  Tilghman  delivered  the  opinion  of  the  court. 
4 Whatever,'  said  he,  'may  be  our  private  opinions  on 
the  subject  of  slavery,  it  is  well  known  that  our  southern 
brethren  would  not  have  consented  to  become  parties  to 
a  constitution,  under  which  the  United  States  have  en 
joyed  so  much  prosperity,  unless  their  property  in  slaves 
had  been  secured.  This  constitution  has  been  adopted 
by  the  free  consent  of  the  citizens  of  Pennsylvania;  and 
it  is  the  duty  of  every  man,  whatever  may  be  his  office 
or  station,  to  give  it  a  fair  and  candid  construction.' 
The  Chief  Justice  cites  the  provision  in  the  second  sec 
tion  of  the  fourth  article  of  the  constitution,  and  ob 
serves,  'Here  is  the  principle:  the  fugitive  is  to  be  deli 
vered  up  on  claim  of  the  master.  But  it  required  a  law 
to  regulate  the  manner  in  which  this  principle  should  be 
reduced  to  practice.  It  was  necessary  to  establish  some 
mode  in  which  the  claim  should  be  made,  and  the  fugi 
tive  be  delivered  up.'  The  judge  then  quotes  the  enact 
ment  on  the  subject  by  congress,  and  concludes  the 
opinion  as  follows :  'It  plainly  appears  from  the  whole 
scope  and  tenor  of  the  constitution,  and  act  of  congress, 
that  the  fugitive  was  to  be  delivered  up  on  a  summary 
proceeding,  without  the  delay  of  a  formal  trial  in  a  court 
of  common  law.  But  if  he  had  really  a  right  to  free 
dom,  that  right  was  not  impaired  by  this  proceeding. 
He  was  placed  just  in  the  situation  in  which  he  stood 
before  he  fled,  and  might  prosecute  his  right  in  the  state 
to  which  he  belonged.  Now  as  the  proceeding  before 
Judge  Armstrong,  and  the  certificate  granted  by  him  are 
in  exact  conformity  to  the  act  of  congress,  that  certifi 
cate,  therefore,  was  a  legal  warrant  to  remove  the  plain 
tiff  to  the  state  of  Maryland.  But  if  this  writ  of  homine 
replegiando  is  to  issue  from  a  state  court,  what  is  its 
effect  but  to  arrest  the  warrant  of  Judge  Armstrong, 
and  thus  defeat  the  constitution  and  law  of  the  United 
States?  The  constitution  and  the  law,  say  that  the  mas 
ter  may  remove  his  slave  by  virtue  of  the  judge's  certifi 
cate;  but  the  state  court  says,  that  he  shall  not  remove 
him.  It  appears  to  us  that  this  is  the  plain  state  of  the 


201 

matter;  and  that  the  writ  has  been  issued  in  violation  of 
the  constitution  of  the  United  States.  We  are  therefore 
of  opinion  that  it  should  be  quashed.' 

"In  1823,  a  case,  under  the  same  section  of  the  act  of 
congress,  came  before  the  supreme  court  of  Massachu 
setts.  Randolph,  a  slave,  the  property  of  one  McCarty, 
of  the  State  of  Virginia,  had  fled  from  the  service  of  his 
master.  After  getting  to  Massachusetts,  he  acquired  a 
dwelling-house  in  New  Bedford,  which  he  held  as  his  own. 
After  living  in  New  Bedford  four  or  five  years,  he  was 
seized  by  one  Griffith  under  the  act  of  congress.  Griffith 
had  authority  in  writing,  (with  a  scroll  in  the  place  of  a 
seal)  from  one  Mason,  the  administrator  on  the  estate  of 
McCarty,  and  made  the  seizure  as  Mason's  agent  and 
attorney.  Griffith  was  indicted  for  assault  and  battery 
and  false  imprisonment,  and  a  verdict  was  taken  against 
him.  It  was  agreed  that  if  the  court  should  determine 
that  the  act  of  congress  was  not  valid,  or  that  the  admin 
istrator  had  not  power  according  to  the  true  construc 
tion  of  that  act,  and  of  the  laws  of  Virginia,  by  himself, 
his  agent,  or  attorney,  to  reclaim  the  slave,  or  that  the 
letters  of  attorney  were  not  sufficient  to  operate  in  Mas 
sachusetts,  then  the  verdict  should  stand;  otherwise  that 
the  defendant  should  be  discharged.  Parker,  chief  jus 
tice,  delivered  the  opinion  of  a  majority  of  the  court,  in 
substance  as  follows:  'It  is  difficult,  in  a  case  like  this, 
for  persons  who  are  not  inhabitants  of  slave-holding 
states,  to  prevent  prejudice  from  having  too  strong  an 
effect  on  their  minds.  We  must  reflect,  however,  that 
the  constitution  was  made  with  some  states,  in  which  it 
would  not  occur  to  the  mind  to  inquire  whether  slaves 
were  property.  It  was  a  very  serious  question  when 
they  came  to  make  the  constitution,  what  should  be  done 
with  their  slaves.  They  might  have  kept  aloof  from  the 
constitution.  That  instrument  was  a  compromise.  It 
was  a  compact  by  which  all  are  bound.  We  are  to  con 
sider  then  what  was  the  intention  of  the  constitution. 
The  words  of  it  were  used  out  of  delicacy,  so  as  not  to 
offend  some  in  the  convention  whose  feelings  were  ab 
horrent  to  slavery;  but  we  there  entered  into  an  agree 
ment  that  slaves  should  be  considered  as  property, 
18 


202 

Slavery  would  still  have  continued,  if  no  constitution  had 
been  made.  The  constitution  does  not  prescribe  the 
mode  of  reclaiming  a  slave,  but  leaves  it  to  be  determined 
by  congress.  It  is  very  clear  that  it  was  not  intended 
that  application  should  be  made  to  the  executive  autho 
rity  of  the  state.  It  is  said  that  the  act  which  congress 
has  passed  on  this  subject,  is  contrary  to  the  amendment 
of  the  constitution,  securing  the  people  in  their  persons 
and  property  against  seizures,  &c.,  without  a  complaint 
upon  oath.  But  all  the  parts  of  the  instrument  are  to  be 
taken  together.  It  is  very  obvious  that  slaves  are  not 
parties  to  the  constitution,  and  the  amendment  has  rela 
tion  to  the  parties.'  'It  is  said  that  when  a  seizure  is 
made,  it  should  be  made  conformably  to  our  laws.  This 
does  not  follow  from  the  constitution ;  and  the  act  of  con 
gress  says  that  the  person  to  whom  the  service  is  due, 
may  seize,  &c.  Whether  the  statute  is  a  harsh  one,  is 
not  for  us  to  determine.  'But  it  is  objected,  that  a  per 
son  may  in  this  summary  manner  seize  a  free  man.  It 
may  be  so,  but  this  would  be  attended  with  mischievous 
consequences  to  the  person  making  the  seizure,  and  a 
habeas  corpus  would  lie  to  obtain  the  release  of  the  per 
son  seized.  We  do  not  perceive  that  the  statute  is  un 
constitutional,  and  we  think  that  the  defence  is  well 
made  out/ 

"In  New  York,  the  writ  de  homine  rcpkgiendo  has 
been  more  frequently  resorted  to  than  in  the  other  north 
ern  states.  In  1834,  a  man  who  was  brought  before  the 
recorder  of  the  city  of  New  York,  as  a  fugitive  slave, 
sued  out  a  writ  of  homine  replegiendo,  upon  which  an 
issue  was  joined  and  tried  fn  the  New  York  circuit,  and 
a  verdict  found  that  the  man  owed  service  to  the  person 
claiming  him:  in  which  verdict,  judgment  was  rendered. 
The  Supreme  Court  of  New  York  decided,  that  the  pro 
per  course  then  was  for  the  recorder  to  grant  a  certificate 
allowing  the  removal  of  the  fugitive.  The  constitution 
ality  of  a  law  of  New  York,  which  provides  for  the 
arrest  of  fugitive  slaves,  in  a  manner  different  in  some 
respects  from  the  act  of  congress;  and  gives  to  one, 
claimed  as  a  slave,  the  writ  of  homine  repkgiendo  against 
the  person  claiming  the  service — and  suspends  all  pro- 


203 

ceedings  before  the  judge  or.  magistrate,  and  the  removal 
of  the  slave  under  the  certificate,  until  final  judgment 
shall  be  given  on  this  writ;  was  discussed  in  another 
case  before  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  state  of  New 
York,  which  was  heard  in  the  same  year.  Judge  Nel 
son,  who  delivered  the  opinion  of  the  Supreme  Court  on 
the  question  as  to  the  effect  of  the  act  of  congress,  and 
of  the  statute  of  New  York,  says — 'To  ascertain  which 
is  entitled  to  paramount  authority,  we  must  go  back  to 
the  source  of  power, — the  provision  of  the  constitution; 
that  being  conceded  to  be  supreme,  and  any  law  in  pur 
suance  thereof  controlling.  The  first  clause  is  merely 
prohibitory  upon  the  states,  and  forbids  the  enactment  of 
any  law,  or  the  adoption  of  any  regulation,  in  the  case  of 
a  fugitive  slave,  by  which  he  may  be  discharged  from 
the  service  of  his  master ;  and  this  prohibition  upon  the 
state  power  thus  far,  is  unqualified  and  complete,  as  it 
necessarily  includes  a  restriction  against  any  measure 
tending,  in  the  slightest  degree,  to  impair  the  right  to 
such  service.  No  'law  or  regulation'  of  a  state  being 
permitted  to  discharge  it,  the  claim  or  title  of  the  owner 
remains  as  perfect  within  the  jurisdiction  of  the  state  to 
which  the  fugitive  has  fled,  after  his  arrival  and  during 
his  continuance,  as  it  was  in  and  under  the  laws  of  the 
state  from  which  he  escaped.  The  service  there  due, 
and  the  escape  being  established,  so  explicit  are  the  terms 
of  the  constitution,  no  rightful  authority  can  be  exercised 
by  the  state  to  vary  the  relation  existing  between  the 
parties.  To  this  very  qualified  extent,  slavery  may  be 
said  still  to  exist  in  a  state,  however  effectually  it  may 
have  been  denounced  by  her  constitution  and  laws.  On 
this  point  there  can  be  no  diversity  of  opinion  as  to  the 
intent  and  meaning  of  this  provision.  At  the  adoption 
of  the  constitution,  a  small  majority  of  the  states  had 
abolished  slavery  within  their  limits,  either  by  positive 
enactment  or  judicial  adjudication ;  and  the  southern 
states  are  known  to  have  been  more  deeply  interested  in 
slave  labour  than  those  of  the  north,  where  slavery  yet, 
to  some  extent,  existed,  but  where  it  must  have  been  seen 
it  would  probably  soon  disappear.  It  was  natural  for 
that  portion  of  the  union  to  fear,  that  the  latter  states 


204 

might,  under  the  influence  of  this  unhappy  and  exciting 
subject,  be  tempted  to  adopt  a  course  of  legislation  that 
would  embarrass  the  owners  pursuing  their  fugitive 
slaves,  if  not  discharge  them  from  service,  and  invite 
escape  by  affording  a  place  of  refuge.  They  already  had 
some  experience  of  the  perplexities  in  this  respect,  under 
the  confederation  which  contained  no  provision  on  the 
subject ;  and  the  serious  and  almost  insurmountable  diffi 
culties  that  this  species  of  property  occasioned  in  the 
convention,  were  wrell  calculated  to  confirm  their  strong 
est  apprehensions.  To  this  source  must  be  attributed,  no 
doubt,  the  provision  of  the  constitution,  and  which  di 
rectly  meets  the  evil,  by  not  only  prohibiting  the  states 
from  enacting  any  regulation  discharging  the  slave  from 
service,  but  by  directing  that  he  shall  be  delivered  up  to 
the  owner.  It  implies  a  doubt  whether  they  would,  in 
the  exercise  of  unrestrained  power,  regard  the  rights  of 
the  owner,  or  properly  protect  them  by  local  legislation.' 
"I  am  satisfied  from  an  attentive  perusal  of  this  provi 
sion,  that  a  fair  interpretation  of  the  terms  in  which  it  is 
expressed,  not  only  prohibits  the  states  from  legislation 
upon  the  question  involving  the  owner's  right  to  this  spe 
cies  of  labour,  but  that  it  is  intended  to  give  to  congress 
the  power  to  provide  for  the  delivering  up  of  the  slave.  It  is 
peremptory  and  unqualified,  that  'he  shall  be  delivered  up 
upon  claim  of  the  party  to  whom  such  service  or  labour 
may  be  due.'  The  right  of  the  owner  to  reclaim  the 
fugitive  in  the  state  to  which  he  has  fled,  has  been  yielded 
to  him  by  the  states.  Without  this  provision  it  would  have 
been  competent  for  them  to  have  wholly  denied  such 
claim,  or  to  have  qualified  it  at  discretion.  All  this  pow 
er  they  have  parted  with,  and  the  owner  now  has  not 
only  an  unqualified  right  to  the  possession,  but  he  has  the 
guaranty  of  the  constitution  in  respect  to  it.  Great  con 
sideration  also  we  think  due  to  the  law  of  1793,  as  a  con 
temporaneous  exposition  of  the  constitutional  provision.  It 
was  passed  about  four  years  after  the  adoption  of  the 
constitution,  by  a  congress  which  included  gome  of  the 
most  distinguished  members  of  the  convention.  At  the 
distance  of  forty  years,  we  should  hesitate  long  before  we 
came  to  the  conclusion  that  an  error  was  committed  in 


205 

the  construction  of  this  instrument  under  such  circumstan 
ces,  and  which  has  been  ever  since  acquiesced  in,  so  far 
as  we  know,  without  question.  Our  own  statute  books 
also  show,  that  down  to  1830,  no  attempt  had  been  made 
here  by  state  legislation  to  interfere  with  this  regulation 
of  Congress." 

"These  extracts  are  from  the  opinion  of  a  gentleman  who 
has  since  been  appointed  to  the  high  and  responsible 
office  of  chief  justice  of  the  state.  The  opinion  from 
which  the  extracts  are  made  is,  in  ail  its  parts,  creditable 
to  the  judge  who  gave  it,  for  the  force  of  its  views,  and 
the  ability  with  which  they  are  urged  ;  but  it  is  still  more 
creditable  on  other  grounds.  The  judge  has  shown 
throughout,  that  the  local  prejudices  and  prepossessions 
of  those  amongst  whom  his  lot  has  placed  him,  are  not 
sufficient  to  swerve  him  from  a  right  decision,  but  that 
his  duty  to  uphold  the  constitution  and  laws  of  the  union 
will  be  honestly  and  independently  performed.  After  this 
decision  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  State  of  New  York, 
in  the  case  Jack  vs.  Martin,  the  cause  was  removed  in 
behalf  of  the  slave  into  the  Court  of  Errors — a  court  con 
stituted  of  the  president  of  the  senate,  chancellor  of  the 
state,  judges  of  the  Supreme  Court,  and  all  the  senators. 
The  hearing  before  the  Court  of  blrrors  was  in  December, 
1835.  Only  two  opinions  were  delivered  at  large.  They 
were  by  the  chancellor,  after  remarking  that  the  decision 
of  the  court  below  was  put  upon  the  ground  that  congress 
not  only  had  the  power  to  legislate  upon  the  subject,  but 
that  their  legislation  must  necessarily  be  exclusive  in  re 
lation  to  this  matter,  proceeded  as  follows:  '[  am  one  of 
those  who  have  been  in  the  habit  of  believing,  that  the 
state  legislatures  had  general  powers  to  pass  laws  on  all 
subjects,  except  those  in  which  they  were  restricted  by 
the  constitution  of  the  United  States,  or  their  own  local 
institutions;  and  that  congress  had  no  power  to  legislate 
on  any  subject,  except  so  far  as  the  power  was  delegated 
to  it  by  the  constitution  of  the  United  States.  I  have 
looked  in  vain,  among  the  powers  delegated  to  congress 
by  the  constitution,  for  any  general  authority  to  that  body 
to  legislate  on  this  subject.  It  certainly  is  not  contained 
in  any  express  grant  of  power,  and  it  does  not  appear  to 
18* 


206 

be  embraced  in  the  general  grant  of  incidental  powers, 
contained  in  the  last  clause  of  the  constitution,  relative 
to  the  powers  of  congress.  In  these  cases  of  fugitive 
slaves  and  fugitives  from  justice,  it  is  not  certain  that 
any  legislation  whatever  is  necessary,  or  was  contempla 
ted  by  the  constitution.  The  provision  as  to  persons  es 
caping  from  servitude  in  one  state  into  another,  appears 
by  their  journal  to  have  been  adopted  by  a  unanimous 
vote  of  the  convention.  At  that  time,  the  existence  of 
involuntary  servitude,  or  the  relation  of  master  and  ser 
vant,  was  known  to  and  recognized  by  the  laws  of  every 
state  in  the  union,  except  Massachusetts ;  and  the  legal 
right  of  recaption,  existed  in  all,  as  a  part  of  the 
customary  or  common  law  of  the  whole  confederacy. 
The  object  of  the  framers  of  the  constitution,  therefore, 
was  not  to  provide  a  new  mode  by  which  the  master 
might  be  enabled  to  recover  the  services  of  his  fugitive 
slave,  but  merely  'to  restrain  the  exercise  of  a  powery 
which  the  state  legislatures-  respectively  would  otherwise 
have  possessed,  to  deprive  the  master  of  such  pre-existing 
right  of  recaption.  However  much,  therefore,  we  may 
deplore  the  existence  of  slavery  in  any  part  of  the  union, 
as  a  national  as  well  as  a  local  evil,  yet,  as  the  right  of 
the  master  to  reclaim  his  fugitive  slave  is  secured  to  him 
by  the  federal  constitution  ;  no  good  citizen,  whose  liber 
ty  and  property  is  protected  by  that  constitution,  will 
interfere  to  prevent  this  provision  from  being  carried  into 
full  effect,  according  to  its  spirit  and  effect ;  and  even 
where  the  forms  of  the  law  are  resorted  to  for  the  pur 
pose  of  evading  the  constitutional  provision,  or  to  delay 
the  remedy  of  the  master  in  obtaining  a  return  of  his  fu 
gitive  slave,  it  is  undoubtedly  the  right,  and  may  become 
the  duty,  of  the  court  in  which  any  proceedings  for  that 
purpose  are  instituted,  to  set  them  aside,  if  they  are  not 
commenced  and  carried  on  in  good  faith,  and  upon  pro 
bable  grounds  for  believing  that  the  claim  of  the  master 
to  the  service  of  the  supposed  slave  is  invalid.' 

"The  course  of  reasoning  of  Senator  Bishop,  was  similar 
to  that  used  by  Judge  Nelson  in  the  Supreme  Court. 
Upon  the  question  being  put — shall  this  judgment  be 
reversed? — the  members  of  the  court  unanimously  voted 


207 

in  the  negative.  Whereupon,  the  judgment  of  the  Su 
preme  court  was  affirmed.  Thus  the  matter  stands-  in 
New  York,  according  to  the  latest  reports  of  decisions  of 
that  state.  We  have  but  little  to  add  to  what  Judge  Nel 
son  has  said  upon  the  subject.  It  is  plain  that,  according 
to  article  4,  sec.  2,  clause  3,  of  the  constitution,  a  person 
held  as  a  slave  in  one  state,  under  the  laws  thereof,  who 
escapes  into  another,  is  not  to  be  discharged  from  slavery 
by  means  of  any  law  or  regulation  existing  in  the  state  to 
which  he  escapes.  All  that  the  claimant  has  to  do  is  to 
show,  in  a  summary  way,  that  the  person  whom  he  claims 
was  his  slave  in  another  state.  Ought  this  inquiry  to  be 
gone  into  before  any  state  tribunal,  acting  as  such  ?  It 
would  seem  not,  it  was  said  by  Gov.  Randolph  ;  in  the 
Virginia  convention,  that  'every  government  necessarily 
involves  a  judiciary,  as  a  constituent  part.  If  then  a  fede 
ral  judiciary  is  necessary,  what  are  the  characters  of  its 
powers  ?  That  it  shall  be  auxiliary  to  the  federal  govern 
ment,  support  and  maintain  harmony  between  the  United 
States  and  foreign  powers,,  and  between  different  states, 
and  prevent  a  failure  of  justice  in  cases  to  which  particu 
lar  state  courts  are  incompetent.  If  this  judiciary  be  re 
viewed  as  relative  to  those  purposes,  I  think  it  will  be 
found  that  nothing  is  granted  which  does  not  belong  to  a 
federal  judiciary.  Self-defence  is  its  first  object.  Has 
not  the  constitution  said,  that  the  states  shall  not  use 
such  and  such  powers,,  and  given  exclusive  powers  to 
congress?  If  the  state  judiciaries  could  make  decisions 
conformable  to  the  laws  of  their  states,  in  derogation  to 
the  general  government,  I  humbly  apprehend  that  the 
federal  government  would  soon  be  encroached  upon.  If 
a  particular  state  should  be  at  liberty  through  its  judiciary 
to  prevent  or  impede  the  operation  of  the  general  govern 
ment,  the  latter  must  soon  be  undermined.  It  is  then  ne 
cessary  that  its  jurisdiction  should  extend  to  all  cases  in 
law  and  equity,  arising  under  this  constitution  and  the 
laws  of  the  United  States/ 

"In  the  convention  of  North  Carolina,  Mr.  Davie  said — 
'It  appears  to  me  that  the  judiciary  ought  to  be  compe 
tent  to  the  decision  of  any  question  arising  out  of  the 
constitution  itself.  On  a  review  of  the  principles  of  all 


208 

free  governments,  it  seems  to  me  also  necessary  that  the 
judicial  power  should  be  co-extensive  with  the  legislative. 
It  is  necessary  in  all  governments,  but  particularly  in  a 
federal  government,  that  its  judiciary  should  be  compe 
tent  to  the  decision  of  all  questions  arising  out  of  the  con 
stitution.'  Again,  he  said— —'Every  member  who  has 
read  the  constitution  with  attention,  must  observe  that 
there  are  certain  fundamental  principles  in  it,  both  of  a 
positive  and  negative  nature,  which  being  intended  for 
the  general  advantage  of  the  community,  ought  not  to  be 
violated  by  any  future  legislation  of  the  particular  states. 
Every  member  will  agree,  that  the  positive  regulations 
ought  to  be  carried  into  execution,  and  that  the  negative 
restrictions  ought  not  to  be  disregarded  or  violated. 
Without  a  judiciary,  the  injunctions  of  the  constitution 
may  be  disobeyed,  and  the  positive  regulations  neglected 
or  contravened.'  If  there  be  occasion  for  the  exercise 
of  judicial  power  in  any  case  arising  under  the  provision 
of  the  constitution,  in  regard  to  fugitives  from  labour, 
such  judicial  power  should  be  exercised,  not  by  a  state 
court,  but,  under  article  3d,  section  2d,  should  be  ex 
ercised  by  a  court  of  the  United  States ;  and  congress 
should,  under  article  first,  section  seventeen,  make  all 
laws  necessary  and  proper  for  carrying  into  execution 
the  power  vested  in  the  judicial  department.  All  execu 
tive  officers  of  the  states  are  bound  by  oath  or  affirmation 
to  support  the  constitution  of  the  United  States.  Article 
6th,  section  2d.  This  constitution,  and  the  laws  of  the 
United  States  made  in  pursuance  thereof,  are  the  supreme 
law  of  the  land,  and  the  judges  in  every  state  are  bound 
thereby;  any  thing  in  the  constitution  or  laws  of  any 
state  to  the  contrary  notwithstanding.  Article  6th,  sec 
tion  2d.  The  supreme  law  of  the  land  has  been  so  ex 
pounded  by  the  judges  of  the  supreme  court  of  the  state 
of  New  York,  as  to  give  to  it  full  effect.  A  very  diffe 
rent  exposition  has  been  made  by  the  executive  of  that 
state.  The  decisions  of  the  supreme  court  of  New  York, 
show  that  until  a  very  recent  period,  the  laws  of  that 
state  recognized  slavery,  and  her  statutes  admitted  that 
one  man  might  be  the  property  of  another.  Such  pro 
perty  was  the  subject  of  sale,  and  the  owner's  rights 


209 

were  protected  by  the  laws.  After  a  union  of  the  states 
has  been  formed,  based  upon  the  provisions  contained  in 
this  constitution,  a  person  charged  in  Virginia  with  steal 
ing  property,  flees  from  justice  and  is  found  in  New  York, 
Virginia  demands  the  fugitive,  and  New  York  refuses  to 
deliver  him  up.  New  York,  while  so  refusing,  admits 
that  if  the  person  is  charged  with  a  crime,  he  ought  to 
be  delivered  up;  and  she  admits  that  stealing  property  is 
a  crime.  But  the  ground  of  her  refusal  is  that  nothing 
was  stolen  except  a  person  held  as  a  slave,  and  that  a 
person  held  as  a  slave  is  not  property  by  the  laws  of  New 
York.  We  trust  it  is  not  yet  come  to  this,  that  New 
York  shall  be  told  in  vain  that  she  herself  has  said,  per 
sons  held  in  Virginia  as  slaves  shall  be  recognized  as  pro 
perty.  We  trust  it  is  not  too  late  to  remind  her,  that  she 
has  so  said  in  a  constitution  which  she  agreed  should  be 
her  supreme  law,  and  which  she  declared,  the  members 
of  her  state  legislature,  and  all  her  executive  and  judicial 
officers,  should  be  solemnly  pledged  to  support." 

We  should  be  truly  pleased  on  this  very  interesting 
subject,  the  political  ligature,  if  we  may  so  speak,  by 
which  the  states  are  bound  together,  also  to  insert  here 
at  large,  some  interesting  remarks  from  Mr.  Paulding 
and  Dr.  Reese,  of  New  York,  from  the  speech  of  Mr. 
Bailey,  of  Accomack  county,  Va.  at  the  late  session  of 
the  legislature  of  that  state,  and  the  entire  views  of  seve 
ral  other  distinguished  gentlemen  on  the  constitutional 
question  to  which  we  have  referred.  Indeed,  the  calm, 
cool,  deliberate  views  of  these  gentlemen  call  for  the 
gratitude  of  every  true  lover  of  his  country.  We  have 
just  been  honoured  with  a  letter  of  reference  to  certain 
facts  and  works,  also  on  this  subject,  by  Mr.  Robinson 
himself,  which  lays  us  under  many  obligations,  not 
only  on  account  of  the  information  imparted,  but  the 
kindness  of  an  exalted  and  talented  stranger,  in  conde 
scending  to  impart  it.  We  feel  we  cannot  withhold 
from  the  intelligent  reader,  the  facts  and  views  of  that 
excellent  letter.  To  do  so,  would  indeed  be  doing  this 
cause  injustice.  And  although  a  part  of  the  same  might 
more  properly  come  in  at  another  time,  still  we  give  it 
here,  as  the  most  appropriate  place.  Mr.  Robinson  says, 
in  this  letter : 


210 

"Dear  Sir  : 

"The  discussion  in  the  convention  of  1787,  throws  light  not  only 
upon  the  views  of  the  different  states,  at  that  time,  but  also  upon 
their  past  history.  In  vol.  2  of  the  Madison  Papers,  pp.  1233-4, 
you  will  find  a  clause,  reported  by  the  committee  of  detail,  declar 
ing  that  no  tax  or  duty  should  be  lost  by  the  legislature,  on  the 
migration  or  importation  of  such  persons  as  the  several  states 
should  think  proper  to  admit,  nor  should  such  migration  or  impor 
tation  be  prohibited.  The  debate  on  this  clause  is  in  the  third 
volume,  p.  1388  to  1396.  Mr.  Luther  Martin,  of  Maryland,  pro 
posed  to  allow  a  prohibition  or  tax  on  the  importation  of  slaves. 
Mr.  Rutledge  and  Mr.  Pinckney,  of  South  Carolina,  earnestly 
opposed  this  proposition.  South  Carolina,  it  Avas  said,  would  never 
receive  the  constitution  if  it  prohibited  the  slave  trade.  George, 
Mason,  of  Virginia,  held  it  essential  that  the  general  government 
should  have  power  to  prevent  the  increase  of  slavery.  'This  infer 
nal  traffic,'  said  he, 'originated  in  the  avarice  of  British  merchants. 
The  British  government  constantly  checked  the  attempts  of  Virginia 
to  put  a  stop  to  it.'  Other  remarks  were  made  by  him,  in  which 
he  deprecated  the  idea  that  South  Carolina  and  Georgia  should  be 
at  liberty  to  import,  and  remarks,  'that  some  of  our  eastern  brethren 
had,  from  a  lust  of  gain,  embarked  in  this  nefarious  traffic.'  Gen. 
Pinckney  treated  the  question  as  being,  whether  South  Carolina 
should  be  excluded  from  the  union.  South  Carolina  and  Georgia, 
he  said  could  not  do  without  slaves.  He  said  'the  royal  assent, 
before  the  revolution,  had  never  been  refused  to  South  Carolina,  us 
to  Virginia.11  Mr.  Bahhvin,  of  Georgia,  supported  the  members 
from  South  Carolina.  Georgia,  he  said,  'was  deserted  on  this 
point.'  Mr.  Edmund  Randolph,  of  Pirginia,was  for  committing, 
in  order  that  some  middle  ground  might,  if  possible,  be  found.  He 
would  never  agree  to  the  clause  as  it  stands.  He  would  sooner 
risk  the  constitution.  The  commitment  was  ordered,  and  the  re 
port  of  the  committe  is  p.  1415.  They  propose  to  strike  out  the 
clause  as  reported  by  the  committee  of  detail,  and  insert — 'The 
migration  or  importation  of  such  persons  as  the  several  states,  now 
existing,  shall  think  proper  to  admit,  shall  not  be  prohibited  by  the 
legislative  power,  to  the  year  IbOO;  but  a  tax  or  duty  may  be  im 
posed  on  such  migration  or  importation,  at  a  rate  not  exceeding 
the  average  of  the  duties  last  on  imports.'  When  this  report  was 
taken  up,  Gen.  Pinckney  moved  to  strike  out  the  words  'the  year 
eighteen  hundred,'  as  the  year  limiting  the  importation  of  slaves, 
and  to  insert  the  words — 'the  year  eighteen  hundred  and  eight.' 
Mr.  Madison  opposed  the  motion,  but  it  passed  by  a  vote  of  seven 
states  in  the  affirmative,  to  four  in  the  negative.  The  states  in  the 
affirmative  are :  New  Hampshire,  Massachusetts,  Connecticut,  Ma 
ryland,  North  Carolina,  South  Carolina  and  Georgia.  Those  in 
the  negative  were :  New  Jersey,  Pennsylvania,  Delaware  and  Vir 
ginia.  Mr.  Gouvernenr  Morris  was  for  making  the  clause  read  at 
once,  'the  importation  of  slaves  into  North  Carolina,  South  Caro 
lina  and  Georgia,  shall  not  be  prohibited,'  &c.  He  wished  it  to 


211 

be  known  that  this  part  of  the  constitution  was  in  compliance  with 
those  .states.  But  some  objection  being  made,  he  withdrew  the 
motion,  and  the  first  part  of  the  report  was  then  agreed  to,  amend 
ed  as  follows :  'The  migration  or  importation  of  such  persons  as 
the  several  states,  now  existing,  shall  think  proper  to  admit,  shall 
not  be  prohibited  by  the  legislature,  prior  to  the  year  1808.'  The 
remainder  of  the  clause  was  so  amended  as  to  read — 'but  a  tax  or 
duty  may  be  imposed  on  such  importation,  not  exceeding  ten  dol 
lars  for  each  person,'  and  being  thus  amended,  was  agreed  to. 
Sec.  3,  pp.  1427  to  1430."* 

"I  remain  yours,  with  respect  and  esteem, 

"CON.  ROBINSON." 

We  believe  that  posterity  and  history  will  say,  that  the 
conduct  of  Virginia,  as  herein  set  forth,  taken  in  connec 
tion  with  her  previous  and  subsequent  action  on  this  sub 
ject,  places  her  on  exalted  ground.  Who  is  there,  of 
common  abolitionists  that  would  suppose  our  brethren  of 
the  granite  state,  and  indeed  those  in  the  land  of  steady 
habits,  were  the  men  to  carry  this  point.  Slaves  had  been 
violently  forced  on  Georgia,  and  insiduously  so  on  the 
Carolinas ;  those  states  were  placed  in  a  condition  now 
to  need  slave  labour,  other  having  been  shut  out  by 
British  tyranny.  They  desired  to  have  it  continued. 
Virginia  resisted — others  too  resisted.  What  is  to  be 
done  ?  New  England  comes  in  and  carries  the  point, 
and  an  article  is  inserted  for  the  continuance  of  the  im 
portation  of  slaves  until  180S,  that  by  their  ships  the 
southern  market  might  be  supplied;  and  now,  those  who 
did  the  deed  are  the  first  to  find  fault.  It  would  appear 
as  though  the  North  would  now  seek  to  atone  for  its  for 
mer  participation  in  slavery,  by  denouncing  in  unmea 
sured  terms,  not  only  it,  but  all  who,  by  the  force  of 
circumstances,  have  had  it  entailed  on  them.  The  ground 
of  all  this  does  appear  to  be,  that  such  a  trade  cannot 
now  be  rendered  profitable  to  them,  and  to  cripple  the 
South,  it  is  said,  has  been,  and  probably  will  continue  to 
be,  a  part  of  the  northern  and  eastern  policy.  The  worst 
of  all  is,  the  introduction  of  such  men  as  Thompson,  the 
notorious  Thompson,  and  Sturge,  from  England  into  this 

*  The  first  part  of  this  letter,  which  refers  to  other  subjects,  is  omitted. 
We  owe  an  apology  to  its  talented  author  for  making  this  extract,  and  trust 
he  will  pardon  it. 


212 

country,  to  meddle  with  our  institutions  and  impudently 
insult  our  feelings.  This  whole  nation  has  heard  of,  and 
know  the  fanaticism  of  the  former ;  we  give  from  a  New 
England  paper,  of  June  12th,  a  notice  of  the  latter;  in  it 
are  plainly  set  forth  the  movements  of  the  abolitionists 
here  and  in  England. 

"Our  readers  are  aware  that  a  notorious  and  violent  abolitionist, 
named  JOSEPH  STURGE,  lately  arrived  in  this  country  from  Eng 
land,  with  designs  almost  as  wild  and  incendiary  as  the  notorious 
Thompson,  and  with  a  determination  to  do  all  in  his  power  to 
break  up  the  'domestic  institutions'  of  the  southern  states.  For 
this  purpose  he  has  been  backed  up  by  all  the  wealth  and  power 
of  the  abolitionists  in  England.,  who  seem  determined  to  interfere 
in  and  destroy,  if  possible,  our  social  institutions,  and  set  this  coun 
try  in  a  flame.  To  effect  this,  we  have  reason  to  believe,  this  man 
Sturge  has  brought  large  sums  of  money,  and  if  there  was  any 
doubt  of  his  real  intentions,  the  letter  addressed  by  his  brother  to 
the  'London  Standard,'  impudently  discloses  them : 

"To  the  Editor  of  the  Standard. 

"BIRMINGHAM,  May  19. 

"Sir:  After  the  manner  in  which  my  brother,  Joseph  Sturge,  is 
mentioned  in  the  Standard  of  yesterday,  I  think  it  but  due  to  him, 
that  you  should  inform  your  numerous  readers  that  he  is  now  in 
the  United  States,  doing  all  in  his  power  to  assist  the  abolitionists 
there,  and  that,  if  in  England,  I  am  sure  he  would  oppose,  to  the 
utmost  of  his  ability,  this  abominable  whig  attempt  to  introduce 
slave-grown  sugar. 

"I  am,  very  respectfully,  &c. 

"CHARLES  STURGE." 

Soon  after  the  arrival  of  this  man  here,  the  abolitionists 
had  a  grand  meeting  and  formed  a  new  plan  of  organi 
zation,  when  they  issued  the  following  circular : 

"The  abolitionists  of  the  city  of  New  York  are  estimated  at 
between  three  and  four  thousand.  And  whereas,  the  majority 
between  the  two  great  political  parties  was  shown  by  the  last  elec 
tion  to  be  less  than  five  hundred.  It  seems  beyond  all  reasonable 
doubt,  if  one  thousand  will  come  out  and  stand  aloof  from  their 
respective  parties,  and  vote  for  none  but  true  men,  they  can  thus 
hold  the  balance  of  power,  and  thus  compel,  at  least,  the  weaker 
of  the  two,  to  put  in  nomination  true  abolitionists.  In  view  of  such 
results,  we  have  sketched  out  a  plan,  subject  to  be  revised,  and 
hereunto  annexed.  And  should  you  deem  the  subject  worthy  of 


213 

your  support,  we  earnestly  request  you  and  your  friends,  to  enroll 
your  names  and  places  of  residence  thereto,  and  forthwith  return 
the  same  to  "Yours  respectfully. 

"JVew  Y&rk,  June  1st,  1841. " 

This  is  signed  by  twenty-three  persons : 

"G.  Wheeler,  H.  Sedgwick,  Thomas  Day,  Jr.,  Norman  Francis, 
James  E.  H.  Wallin,  Thomas  Ritter,  James  J.  Sawyer,  James  H. 
French,  Asa  Parker,  N.  Southard,  W.  S.  Dorr,  C.  B.  Hatch,  Geo. 
R.  Barker,  Leonard  Gibbs,  William  Tracy,  Alexander  Macdonald, 
Horace  Dresser,  Asher  Atkinson,  Anthony  Lane,  R.  G.  Williams, 
George  M.  Tracy,  Joel  M.  Hubbard,  Augustus  J.  Gillett." 

"PLAN. 

"This  committee  agree  to  the  following  rules,  subject  to  such 
alterations  as  a  majority  shall  direct : 

"1.  No  person  shall  sign  these  articles,  except  as  honorary  mem 
bers,  unless  he  be  a  voter  in  the  city. 

"2.  No  person  shall  be  bound  by  any  of  these  articles  till  one 
thousand  names  are  hereunto  subscribed. 

"3.  When  one  thousand  names  are  subscribed,  any  five  mem 
bers  may  call  a  meeting  and  organize. 

"4.  It  shall  be  the  duty  of  this  committee,  when  organized,  to 
put  in  nomination  such  candidates  for  important  offices,  as  honest 
and  good  citizens  can  support  with  an  approving  conscience.  Such, 
and  such  only,  as  will  remember  the  poor  and  oppressed,  who  on 
the  theatre  of  action,  will  do  justice  and  judgment,  'and  go  to  the 
very  verge  of  the  constitution  and  the  laws.'  To  undo  the  heavy 
burdens,  break  every  yoke,  and  let  the  oppressed  go  free. 

"5.  When  such  nominations  are  so  made,  and  approved  of  by 
a  majority,  every  member  shall  stand  pledged  each  to  the  other,  in 
all  honour  and  honesty,  to  vote  for  such  candidate." 

"It  will  doubtless  be  deemed  by  the  people  of  this  coun 
try,  a  very  kind  and  considerate  act  of  this  itinerant 
abolitionist,  to  put  himself  to  so  much  trouble  to  rectify 
the  institutions  of  this  country.  But  first,  it  may  be  as 
well  to  state,  that  Messrs.  Joseph  and  Charles  Sturge  are 
two  of  that  odious  class  of  creatures  known  in  England 
as  'corn  monopolists.'  They  began  business  in  the  corn 
monopoly  trade  about  ten  years  ago,  with  a  very  small 
capital,  but  by  riding  half  over  England,  and  buying  up 
all  the  corn  they  could  lay  their  hands  upon,  monopoliz 
ing  on  the  largest  scale  which  their  means  would  allow, 
and  then  holding  on  to  it  as  long  as  possible,  they  would 
at  last  sell  it  out  to  the  poor  while  slaves  of  England,  at 
19 


214 

caogaioas  prices,  and  thus  obtain  enormous  profits.  In 
this  way,  these  two  'corn  monopolists'  have  realized 
large  fortunes.  With  the  sufferings  of  the  poor  white 
labourers  of  England,  they  have  no  sympathy ;  all  their 
tears  and  affections  are  reserved  for  the  negroes  of  this 
country.  And  in  furtherance  of  their  impudent  plan  of 
disorganization  and  interference,  this  Joseph  Sturge  is 
now  at  \VASHLXGTOX,  using  every  means  in  his  power  to 
procure  the  abolition  of  slavery  LX  THE  DISTRICT  OF  CO 
LUMBIA.  Can  it  be,  that  through  his  influence,  this  sub 
ject  was  brought  up  in  the  house  of  representatives,  the 
other  day,  and  resulted  in  favour  of  the  abolitionists  ?  If 
so,  what  may  be  the  effect  before  he  gets  through  with 
his  schemes,  it  is  impossible  to  say.  Of  course,  astharles 
Siurge  says,  his  brother  would  oppose  the  measure  of  the 
whigs  of  England,  relative  to  the  sugar  duties,  because 
they  know  that  such  a  plan  would  be  a  relief  to  the  suf- 
fcnng  white  population  of  England :  and  because,  also, 
die  whig  ministry,  by  introducing  a  bill  to  abolish  the 
odious  corn  laws,  (so  long  and  loudly  demanded  by  the 
great  body  of  the  people  of  England.)  their  monopoly  in 
it  would  be  broken  up,  and  their  "occupation  gone,"  so 
far  as  relates  to  their  grinding  and  oppressing  the  labour 
ing  white  man.  Let  the  southern  delegation  in  congress 
look  after  this  Sturge. 

"On  the  subject  of  these  corn  and  su^ar  monopolies  we 
find  a  violent  debate  lately,  in  the  British  parliament, 
when  Lord  Palmerston  made  a  direct  attack  on  aboli- 
tionism,  and  we  are  happy  to  say,  defended  the  slave- 
bolding  states  in  North  America  against  the  insidious 
attempts  of  such  impudent  fanatics  as  Thompson  and 
Sturge,  and  their  abolition  associates.  This  corn  law 
affects  deeply  the  interests  of  the  United  States,  and  you 
cannot  look  in  an  unconcerned  manner,  upon  the  noble 
struggles  and  efforts  of  the  aristocratic  ridden  people  of 
this  country,  without  a  sympathy.  The  debate  on  the 
su^ar  duties,  has  preceded  the  discussion  on  corn,  but 
the  two  questions  proceed  from  the  same  principle.  The 
monopolists  in  sugar  have  received,  as  auxiliaries,  the 
piety  party,  and  a  league  appears  to  be  concerted  between 
tbe  bread-takers,  sugar-taxers,  and  abolitionists.  Never 


215 

.  .        .. . .  : .  .-  _ .  _    . , 


•-*.     ,    -.- 
-.         , 
I>  - 


~It  TS5  ~~ 
ESI   El^in^-  f,   tinr   S 

•r-ii  L-^  £: 


. 


216 

of  refined  sugar,  and  the  Brazillians  tell  us  they  cannot  refine  it. 
We  again  step  in  and  say,  ' We  will  help  you ;  for,  besides  carry 
ing,  we  will  refine  your  sugar  too.  It  may  be,  we  say,  sinful  to 
consume  slave  labour  sugar,  but  there  is  no  sin  in  carrying  and 
refining  it.'  (Cheers  and  laughter.)  The  sugar,  accordingly,  is 
refined  in  this  country,  and  you  think  we  have  done.  Not  a  bit. 
The  Brazillians  tell  us,  'We  have  more  produce  than  the  Germans 
want :  what  are  we  to  do  V  Again  England  says,  'We  will  buy 
from  you  produce  which  it  is  against  our  conscience  to  consume 
ourselves,  but  we  will  send  it  to  distant  islands  and  settlements, 
where  the  inhabitants  are  negroes  or  colonists,  and  have  no  right 
to  the  possession  of  consciences.  (Loud  cheers  and  laughter.)  It 
can  do  them  no  harm  whatever.'  (Renewed  laughter.)  But  still 
further,  we  told  them,  that  in  order  to  prevent  any  further  diffi 
culty,  cWe  tell  you  that  when  our  own  grown  sugar  gets  dear  in 
our  market,  when  it  reaches  a  certain  price,  we  will  eat  your  sugar 
ourselves/  (Loud  cheers  from  the  ministerial  side  of  the  house.) 
Although,"  continued  the  noble  lord,  fe'n  might  give  offence,  he 
must  ask,  was  it  not  the  greatest  hypocrisy,  now  to  turn  round  and 
call  upon  the  government  to  forego  an  arrangement,  which  would 
at  once  tend  to  the  relief  of  the  commerce 'of  the  country,  and  the 
assistance  of  its  finances,  under  a  pretence  so  hollow,  and  a  pre 
text  so  inconsistent  with  that  which  was  done  every  day?"  (Loud 
cheers  from  the  ministerial  benches.) 

We  record  here  the  foregoing  letter  and  speech  with 
the  greatest  pleasure,  because  whilst  they  set  forth  the 
true  nature  and  inconsistency  of  this  controversy,  it  will 
prepare  the  way  for  the  following  paper,  addressed  by  the 
Anti-Slavery  Society,  through  this  same  fanatical  corn 
monopolist  and  oppressor  of  the  poor.  Is  it  not  enough  to 
cause  the  ears  of  Americans  to  tingle,  to  think  that  a 
foreigner  should  attempt  an  address  such  as  the  following, 
to  the  head  of  this  great  nation,  through  the  public  papers 
of  our  own  country,  when  he  knows  that  the  President  of 
the  United  States  is  solemnly  sworn  to  keep  the  constitu 
tion  of  it  inviolable,  and  that  this  constitution  does  most 
positively  acknowledge  slavery,  and  that  he  is  himself  a 
slaveholder.  But  let  the  intelligent  reader  peruse  the  same 
and  judge  for  himself,  from  a  copy  published  in  the  city 
of  New  York,  on  the  21st  June,  1841.  The  editor  says: 

"We  give  to-day  one  of  the  most  curious  and  startling  letters, 
emanating  from  the  British  Anti-Slavery  Society,  and  addressed 
to  the  President  of  the  United  States,  that  ever  was  attempted  in 
this  country  by  a  band  of  fanatics  from  a  foreign  land. 


217 

"Mr.  Joseph  Sturge,  by  whom  the  letter  has  been,  or  will  be  pre 
sented  to  the  President,  is  one  of  the  corn  monopolists  of  England, 
heartily  engaged  in  grinding  the  face  of  the  poor  white  slaves  of 
that  country,  while  he  impudently  and  audaciously  comes  to  this 
country,  to  scatter  firebrands  and  disunion  throughout  the  land. 
The  following  is  the  letter : — 

"ADDRESS  TO  THE  PRESIDENT  OF  THE  UNITED 
STATES. 

"The  Committee  of  the  British  and  Foreign  Anti-Slavery  Society 
have  requested  Mr.  Joseph  Sturge,  to  present  to  the  President 
of  the  United  States  an  address,  of  which  the  following  is  a 
true  copy : — 

"SiR  : — As  the  head  of  a  great  number  of  states,  justly  valuing 
their  free  constitutions  and  political  organization,  and  tenacious  of 
their  rights  and  their  character,  the  Committee  of  the  British  and 
Foreign  Anti-Slavery  Society,  through  their  esteemed  coadjutor 
and  representative,  Joseph  Sturge,  would  approach  you  in  behalf 
of  millions  of  their  fellow-men,  held  in  bondage  in  the  United 
States.  Those  millions  are  not  only  denied  the  political  immuni 
ties  enjoyed  by  the  citizens  of  your  great  republic  generally,  and 
the  equal  privileges,  and  the  impartial  protection  of  the  civil  law, 
but  are  deprived  of  their  personal  rights ;  so  that  they  cease  to  be 
regarded  and  treated,  under  your  otherwise  noble  institutions,  as 
MEN,  except  in  the  commission  of  crime,  when  the  utmost  rigour 
of  your  penal  statutes  is  invoked  against  them ;  and  are  reduced  to 
the  degraded  condition  of  'chattels  personal'  in  the  hands  of  their 
owners  and  possessors,  to  att  intents,  constructions,  and  purposes 
whatsoever. 

"This  is  the  language  and  the  law  of  slavery ;  and  upon  this  law, 
guarded  with  jealousy  by  their  political  institutions,  the  slave 
holders  of  the  South  rest  their  claims  to  property  in  man.  But, 
sir,  there  are  claims,  anterior  to  all  human  laws,  and  superior  to 
all  political  institutions  which  are  immutable  in  their  nature — 
claims  which  are  the  birth-right  of  human  beings,  of  every  clime 
and  of  every  colour — claims  which  God  has  conferred,  and  which 
man  cannot  .destroy  without  sacrilege,  or  infringe  without  sin. 
Personal  liberty  is  among  these  the  greatest  and  the  best,  for  it  is 
the  root  of  all  other  rights,  the  conservative  principle  of  human 
associations,  the  spring  of  public  virtues,  and  essential  to  national 
strength  and  greatness. 

"The  monstrous  and  wicked  assumption  of  power  by  man  over 

its  existences,  which  slavery  implies,  is  abhorrent  to  the  moral 

violence,  by  Knd,  to  the  immutable  principles  of  justice ;  to  the 

ral    evil  "  in  o?h£*oc^  an(^ to  tne  benevolent  principles  of  the  gos- 

I  '  y  •?,  indignantly  repudiated  by  the   fundamental 

es-      -k61  .us  ^lightened  and  civilized  communities ;  and  by 

would  be  a  sin  fatally  than  by  that  over  which,  sir,  it  is  your 

Africa,  and  kidnap 


218 

"The  great  doctrine  that  fGod  hath  created  all  men  equal,  and 
endowed  them  with  certain  inalienable  rights,  and  that  among 
these,  are  life,  liberty,  and  the  pursuit  of  happiness,'  is  affirmed  in 
your  Declaration  of  Independence,  and  justified  in  the  theory  of 
your  constitutional  laws.  But  there  is  a  stain  upon  your  glory. 
Slavery,  in  its  most  abject  and  revolting  form,  pollutes  your  soil  ; 
the  waitings  of  slaves  mingle  with  your  songs  of  liberty,  and  the 
clank  of  their  chains  is  heard  in  horrid  discord  with  the  chorus  of 
your  triumphs. 

"The  records  of  your  states  are  not  less  distinguished  by  their 
wise  provisions  for  securing  the  order,  and  maintaining  the  institu 
tions  of  your  country,  than  by  their  ingenious  devices  for  rivetting 
the  chains,  and  perpetuating  the  degradation  of  your  coloured  bre 
thren.  Their  education  is  branded  as  a  crime  against  the  state  ; 
their  freedom  is  dreaded  as  a  blasting  pestilence  ;  the  bare  sugges 
tion  of  their  emancipation  is  proscribed  as  treason  to  the  cause  of 
American  independence. 

"These  things  are  uttered  in  sorrow  ;  for  the  committee  deeply 
deplore  the  flagrant  inconsistency  so  daringly  displayed,  between 
the  lofty  principles  embodied  in  the  great  charter  of  your  liberties, 
and  the  evil  practices  which  have  been  permitted  to  grow  up  under 
it,  to  mar  its  beauty  and  impair  its  strength. 

"But  it  is  not  on  these  grounds  alone,  or  chiefly,  that  they  de 
plore  the  existence  of  slavery  in  the  United  States.  Manifold  as 
are  the  evils  which  flow  from  it,  dehumanizing  as  are  its  tenden 
cies,  fearful  as  its  re-action  confessedly  is  on  its  supporters,  the 
reproach  of  its  existence  does  not  terminate  in  the  institutions 
which  give  it  birth.  The  sublime  principles  and  benign  spirit  of 
Christianity  are  dishonoured  by  it.  In  the  light  of  divine  truth  it 
stands  revealed  in  all  its  hideous  deformity,  A  CRIME  AGAINST  GOD, 
a  daring  usurpation  of  the  prerogative  and  authority  of  the  Most 
High.  It  is  a  violation  of  his  righteous  laws,  an  outrage  on  his 
glorious  attributes,  a  renunciation  of  the  claims  of  his  blessed  gos 
pel,  that  they  especially  deplore  the  continuance  and  support  it 
receives  among  you,  and,  in  the  spirit  of  Christian  love  and  frater 
nal  solicitude,  they  would  counsel  its  immediate  and  complete 
overthrow,  as  a  solemn  and  imperative  duty,  the  performance  of 
which  no  sordid  reasons  should  be  permitted  to  retard,  and  no  po 
litical  considerations  to  prevent.  Slavery  is  a  sin  against  God,  and 
ought,  therefore,  to  be  abolished. 

"The  utter  extinction  of  slavery,  and  its  sister  abomination,  the 
internal  slave  trade  —  second  only  in  horror  and  extent  in  the  United 
States  to  the  African,  and  in  some  of  its  features  even  more 


ing  —  can  be  urged  by  the  philanthropists  of  this  cr-Jft-1  in  *»»o  City 
the  abstract  principles  of  moral  and  religious  clThe  editor  say  si 
principles  the  people  of  your  great  republic  are  I 
of  freedom,  beyond  every  nation  of  the  world  >us  an(j  startling  letters, 
"The  negro,  by  nature  our  equal,  made  ^odety,  and  addressed 
image  of  his  Creator,  gifted  with  the  same  in;<  ever  was  attempted  in 
the  same  passions,  and  redeemed  by  the  sai'^rein  iami. 


PART    VII. 


AS  ABOLITIONISM  IMMEDIATE.,  DIRECT  AND  INDISCRIMINATE,,  IS  NOT 
THE  JUST,  THE  NATURAL,  AND  SAFE  REMEDY  AGAINST  THE 
EVIL  OF  SLAVERY,  THE  Q.UESTION  ARISES  WHAT  IS  THAT  RE 
MEDY?  THAT  QUESTION  ANSWERED  ACCORDING  TO  THE  AD 
VICE  OF  OUR  FATHERS, — THE  LIGHTS  OF  HISTORY  AND  THE 
ALMOST  UNIVERSAL  WISH  OF  THE  SLAVE-HOLDING  STATES. 
THAT  THE  REMEDY  WHICH  WE  PROPOSE  IS  JUST,  IS  NATURAL, 
IS  SAFE,  IS  PRACTICABLE,  AND  PROMISES,  FROM  PAST  EXPE 
RIENCE,  IMMENSE  ADVANTAGES  TO  THE  COLOURED  POPULA 
TION  OF  THIS  COUNTRY  AND  THE  SAVAGE  TRIBES  OF  AFRICA. 

IT  will  doubtless  be. charged  from  what  we  have  said, 
upon  the  south,  that  it  is  so  wedded  to  slavery,  as  to  feel 
no  desire  that  posterity  at  least  should  be  saved  from  the 
evils  of  it.  We  say  evils,  for  although  we  do  not  make 
a  list,  as  long  and  as  dark  as  that  of  Dr.  C.  in  his  list 
of  "the  evils  of  slavery;"  yet,  we  believe  that  slavery 
has  its  evils,  and  so  have  the  other  relations  and  condi 
tions  of  human  life.  These  are  not,  in  our  estimation, 
under  the  circumstances,  "moral  evil."  Understand  us. 
Do  not  be  startled !  We  repeat,  we  believe  slavery  is 
attended  by  many  and  sore  evils,  to  the  slave,  to  the 
owner,  and  this  our  country,  in  which  they  reside ;  but, 
under  the  circumstances,  which  attended  the  introduction 
of  slavery  into  the  United  States,  and  those  attendant  on 
its  existence  as  an  institution  of  the  country  made  so  by 
violence,  by  British  tyranny,  we  believe,  it  is  not  a  "mo 
ral  evil,"  in  other  words,  an  actual  sin,  to  hold  or  own 
slaves.  Let  us  explain  ourselves.  We  believe  that  it 
would  be  a  sin  for  us  or  any  man  to  visit  the  shores  of 
Africa,  and  kidnap  persons  and  sell  them  into  slavery. 


222 

And,  therefore,  that  the  English,  who  were  accustomed 
to  steal  or  cause  them  to  be  stolen,  and  sell  African 
slaves  and  Indians,  into  American  and  other  colonies, 
committed  a  crime  for  which  God  will  judge  them.  We 
believe  that  all  the  preaching,  and  all  the  canting  of  our 
northern  and  eastern  brethren,  about  the  wickedness  of 
southern  slavery,  will  never  wash  out  the  deep,  black 
guilt  of  their  fathers,  for  kidnapping  and  selling  In 
dians  and  Africans  into  slavery.  But  we  also  believe, 
that  as  these  slaves  were  forced  by  positive  enactment 
on  the  south,  and  notwithstanding  southern  resistance, 
were  quartered  on  it  to  build  up  and  support  British 
and  New  England  power,  it  is  not  a  sin,  it  is  not  a 
"moral  evil,"  although  there  may  be  many  and  sore 
evils,  in  the  southern  people's  retaining  them  in  bondage 
until  they  can  have  them  removed,  if  they  choose  so  to  do, 
with  safety  and  with  convenience  to  themselves  and  the 
slaves,  to  some  situation  adapted  to  the  true  nature  and 
condition  of  the  African  race.  Prisoners  of  war  are 
sometimes  quartered  on  towns.  Suppose  some  feeling 
citizens,  men,  women  and  children,  should  say,  (kPoor 
creatures,  what  an  evil  to  be  in  bondage,  they  are  in  dis 
tress  and  degradation,  turn  them  loose."  Suppose  per 
sons  of  another  town  should  begin  to  preach  about  the 
"iniquity  of  retaining  them  in  their  present  condition,'7 
until  they  could  be  safely  removed.  Suppose  the  very- 
persons  who  quartered  them  there,  should  begin  to  plead 
the  wretchedness  of  the  prisoners  and  the  wickedness  of 
the  townsmen,  who  do  not  consent  that  hundreds  of  per 
sons  shall  be  turned  loose,  to  prey  upon  the  very  vitals  of 
society,  and  sap  the  foundations  of  all  orders  and  govern 
ment,  if  not  of  life  itself.  What  would  you  think,  what 
would  you  say  ?  Let  the  sons  of  Massachusetts — the 
descendants  of  the  pilgrims,  look  for  the  answer  in  the 
conduct  of  their  fathers,  to  the  poor  old  men,  the  women 
and  children  of  the  Narraganset  tribe,  or  if  they  choose 
to  go  a  little  farther,  to  the  destruction  and  slavery  of  the 
Pokonakets — the  Massasoit  family,  and  the  Pequod  tribe» 
Heavens  !  How  it  chills  our  blood  to  read  of  the  cruelty 
toward  the  poor  old  men,  and  women,  and  children  of 


223 

the  Narragansett  tribe.  We  give  it  in  the  plain,  honest 
and  truthful  language  of  their  own  excellent  historian, 
Mr.  Bancroft :  "It  was  resolved  to  regard  the  Narragan- 
setts  as  enemies,  and  a  little  before  winter  solstice,  a 
thousand  men  levied  by  the  united"  i.  e.  New  England 
"colonies,  and  commanded  by  the  brave  Jonah  Winslow, 
a  native  New  England  man,  invaded  their  territory.  'Af 
ter  a  night  spent  in  the  open,  air,  they  waded  through  the 
snow,"  &c.  "Nothing  could  check  their  determined 
valour  ;  and  the  group  of  Indian  cabins  was  set  on  fire. 
Then  was  swept  away  the  humble  glory  of  the  Narragan- 
setts,  the  winter's  stores  of  the  tribes,  their  curiously 
wrought  baskets  full  of  corn,  their  famous  strings  of 
wampum,,  their  wigwams  nicely  lined  with  mats, — all  the 
little  comforts  of  savage  life  were  consumed.  And  more, 
their  old  men,  their  women,  their  babes  perished  by  hun 
dreds  in  the  fire.  Then  indeed  was  the  cup  of  misery 
full  for  these  red  men,  who  without  shelter,  and  without 
food,  hid  themselves  in  a  cedar  swamp,  with  no  defence 
against  the  cold,  but  boughs  of  ever-green  trees.  They 
prowled  the  forests  and  pawed  up  the  snow,  to  gather 
nuts  and  acorns ;  they  dug  the  earth  for  ground-nuts, 
they  ate  remnants  of  horse  flesh  as  a  luxury,  they  sunk 
down  from  feebleness  and  want  of  food."  This  was  the 
condition  of  the  poor  Indians  whom  the  sons  of  the  pil 
grim  fathers  sought  to  enslave,  and  to  whom  the  brave 
CONONCHET,  that  did  not  droop  under  such,  the  over 
whelming  sufferings  of  his  tribe,  exclaimed,  "We  will 
fight  to  the  last  man  rather  than  become  slaves  to  the 
English."  To  the  haughty  young  Blackstone,  who 
questioned  him,  he  replied,  "You  do  not  understand 
war,  I  will  answer  your  chief."  "We  have  nothing  to 
lose,  you  have  burned  our  all,  in  seeking  to  kidnap  and 
enslave  them."  "The  Indians  will  not  yield,  we  will  fight 
these  twenty  years."  "I  like  death  well,  I  shall  die  be 
fore  I  speak  any  thing  unworthy  of  myself."  Thus  were 
the  Indians  slaughtered,  in  that  attempt  to  make  them 
slaves  :  and  with  a  slaughter  far  more  destructive,  bloody 
and  vile,  than  that  of  the  white  man  at  the  renowned 
"Bloody  Brook."*  And  well  may  it  be  be  said,  "Physi 
cian,  heal  thyself." 

*  See  Bancroft's  King  Phillip's  War,  pages  104,  105,  &c.  vol.  2,— and  Eve 
rett's  Address  at  Bloody  Brook,  p.  37. 


224 

To  proceed,  we  say,  whilst  it  is  not  a  sin  to  retain  in 
bondage  these  slaves  quartered  on  our  fathers  and  us,  by 
others,  there  are  evils  connected  with  their  being  amongst 
us,  and  it  is  a  solemn  duty  we  owe  them,  ourselves, 
and  our  posterity,  to  do  what  we  can  by  those  means, 
that  are  not  coercive,  to  remedy  this  evil,  and  better  their 
condition,  as  well  as  our  own,  by  their  removal  as  they 
become  free.  But  how  may  this  be  done?  What  is  the 
remedy?  We  answer,  promptly  and  honestly,  coloniza 
tion  on  the  coast  of  Africa.  This  was  the  opinion  of  our 
fathers,  and  subsequent  events  have  proved  the  wisdom 
of  that  opinion.  We  have  alluded  to  those  laws  passed 
by  the  colonial  assembly  of  Virginia,  their  solemn  pro 
tests  and  those  of  the  Carolinas  and  Georgia,  against  the 
introduction  of  African  slaves  into  their  colonies.  We 
have  seen  the  resistance  of  the  British  government  to 
their  legislating  on,  or  touching  this  question  at  all,  but 
this  did  not  stop  that  opposition,  they  resisted  as  firmly 
as  ever,  and  at  the  adoption  of  the  constitution  of  the 
United  States  of  America,  we  find  Virginia,  and  other 
states,  continue  that  resistance,  whilst  Massachusetts, 
Connecticut  and  New  Hampshire  voted  for  the  pro 
longation  of  the  trade.  South  Carolina  and  Georgia 
were  peculiarly  situated.  Having  had  slavery  forced 
on  them  originally  they  were  absolutely  driven  from  the 
nature  of  their  condition  to  have  labourers  or  yield  up 
their  farms.  We  believe  that  Carolina  and  Georgia  did 
not  then,  any  more  than  formerly  or  now  desire  to  pro 
tract  the  slave  trade  by  the  removal  of  slaves  from  Africa, 
but  the  citizens  thereof  under  the  old  regimen  had  entered 
into  contracts  for  lands,  had  been  induced  so  to  do,  by 
the  act  of  Great  Britain,  respecting  slaves,  and  under 
these  circumstances  its  continuance  was  considered 
necessary,  until  those  arrangements  and  contracts  were 
completed.  We  do  not  say,  that  this  was  right,  but 
we  know  that  the  states  of  Massachusetts,  Connecticut 
and  New  Hampshire  came  in  to  aid  them,  and  by  that  as 
sistance  the  trade  was  prolonged  until  1808. 

We  must  also  premise  another  thing.  Slaves  being 
private  property,  none  have  the  right  to  vote  away  the 
same  without  ample  remuneration.  Even  the  British 


225 

government  has  admitted  this  principle,  and  therefore 
paid  the  planters  of  Jamaica  $100,000,000,  at  so  much 
per  headt  for  their  slaves.  When,  therefore,  by  the  will 
of  the  people,  either  individually  or  collectively,  slaves  are 
free^  the  next  question  is,  what  ought  to  be  done  with 
them  ?  We  have  proved  that  to  be  free  here,  is  to  entail 
on  them  and  their  posterity,  unceasing  wretchedness,  and 
to  do  our  country  an  injury  not  to  be  easily  if  ever  re 
paired.  As  we  have  lived  in  the  vicinity  of  Mount  Ver- 
non,  formerly  the  residence  and  now  the  burial  place  of 
General  WASHINGTON,  the  Father  of  his  Country,  we  are 
prepared  to  say,  from  our  own  knowledge,  that  all  the 
benefits  resulting  from  the  Mount  Vernon  estate,  as  a  com 
ponent  part  of  Fairfax  county  in  Virginia,  in  which  it  is 
situated,  can  never  counterbalance  the  injury  done  to  that 
county,  by  turning  loose,  setting  free,  as  it  is  called,  scores 
of  negroes  to  prowl  about  of  a  night  as  beasts  of  the  fo 
rest,  to  murder  and  rob  the  traveller,  and  to  live  as  hun 
dreds  of  the  citizens  of  that  county  and  Alexandria  know, 
in  poverty,  misery,  and  want  continually.  Those  citizens 
generally  have  considered  their  freedom  as  a  curse  to 
themselves  and  society.  Other  similar  instances  we  could 
name.  Now,  colonization  proposes  to  send  the  free 
coloured  population  home  to  Africa.  This  was  the 
original  plan  of  our  fathers.  It  also  proposes  to  send  all 
those  whom  their  masters,  or  mistresses,  desire  to  free. 
To  expose  the  views  we  have  on  this  subject,  we  give, 
first,  an  outline  of  that  plan  suggested  by  Mr.  Jefferson 
and  the  Virginia  legislature,  the  adoption  of  the  plan  in 
the  formation  of  the  Colonization  Society,  and  the  suc 
cess  with  which  that  plan  has  been  carried  out.  And 
to  do  this  the  more  concisely  and  effectually,  we  propose 
to  make  quotations  from  certain  documents  and  reports, 
&c.  with  some  little  variation,  chiefly  collected  by  Rev. 
Mr.  McKenny,  and  submit  them  for  the  inspection  of  the 
candid  and  impartial  reader. 

For  many  years  antecedent  to  the  organization  of  the 
American  Colonization  Society  in  the  City  of  Washing 
ton,  in  the  year  1817,  there  were  no  questions  of  a  do 
mestic  character  more  solemnly  pondered,  in  many  in 
stances,  devoutly  examined,  than  the  following,  viz: 
20 


226 

What  shall  be  done  with  our  free  coloured  population1? 
How  shall  we  fairly  and  righteously  dispose  of  them,  and 
of  such  of  our  slaves  as  may  hereafter,  from  time  to  time, 
become  free  ?  These  important  questions  were  not  the  re 
sult  of  fanatical  deliberations  upon  the  feasibility  of  incor 
porating  them  into  the  body  politic  of  the  nation ;  this 
wild  and  extravagant  notion  was  reserved,  as  it  would 
seem,  for  the  action  of  a  new  set  of  men — men  unknown, 
and  unheard  of  in  those  days,  when  the  patriots  of  the 
revolution,  having  achieved  the  independence  for  which 
they  fought  and  bled,  were  zealously  employed  in  arrang 
ing  and  classifying  those  great  principles,  which  consti 
tute  the  bond,  and  the  strength  of  the  present  union  of  the 
states.  The  political  and  domestic  evils  of  a  mixed  popu 
lation  were  foreseen  as  early  as  1772.  In  that  year  the 
House  of  Burgesses  of  Virginia,  inspired  with  a  just  ab 
horrence  of  the  difficulties,  perplexities,  and  dangers  it 
would  entail  upon  their  posterity,  unanimously  agreed 
upon  an  address  to  the  King  of  Great  Britain,  praying 
him  to  remove  those  restraints  on  the  governors  of  the 
colonies,  which  inhibited  them  from  assenting  to  such 
laws  as  might  check  so  very  pernicious  a  commerce. 
The  following  copy  of  that  address  will  give  to  the  pre 
sent  generation,  a  just  view  of  the  noble  and  patriotic 
feelings  of  many  of  their  progenitors.  "The  importation 
of  slaves  into  the  colony,  from  the  coast  of  Africa,  has 
long  been  considered  as  a  trade  of  great  inhumanity: 
and  its  encouragement,  we  have  too  much  reason  to  fear, 
will  endanger  the  very  existence  of  your  majesty's  Ameri 
can  dominions.  £We  are  sensible  that  some  of  your 
majesty's  subjects  in  Great  Britain,  may  reap  emolument 
from  this  sort  of  traffic,  but  when  we  consider  that  it 
greatly  retards  the  settlement  of  the  colonies  with  more 
white  inhabitants,  and  may  in  time  have  the  most  de 
structive  influence,  we  presume  to  hope  that  the  interest 
of  a  few  will  be  disregarded  when  placed  in  competition 
with  the  security  and  happiness  of  such  numbers  of  your 
majesty's  dutiful  and  loyal  subjects.'  In  about  four  years 
after  the  passage  of  this  patriotic  address,  the  war  of  the 
revolution  commenced.  In  one  year  after  its  formal  com 
mencement,  viz:  in  1777,  while  clouds  of  thick  and  al- 


227 

most  Egyptian  darkness  hung  over  the  prospects  of  the 
noble  land  of  patriots,  who  had  resolved  to  be  free,  or  die 
in  the  attempt,  we  find  Thomas  Jefferson,  the  author  of 
the  declaration  of  American  Independence,  turning  his 
attention  to  the  coloured  population  of  his  country,  and 
bringing  his  Herculean  mind  to  act  upon  the  questions. 
'What  shall  be  done  with  our  free  coloured  population  ? 
How  shall  we  dispose  of  them  and  of  such  of  our  slaves, 
as  may  hereafter,  from  time  to  time,  become  free  I9  Un 
like  some  who  have  subsequently,  and  within  but  a  short 
time  past,  entertained  the  same,  and  no  doubt,  as  it  re 
gards  many  of  them,  with  the  kindest  feelings  towards 
the  blacks; — he  never  dreamed  of  an  amalgamation: 
he  never  admitted  the  possibility  of  incorporating  them 
as  a  part  and  portion  of  the  free  citizens  of  the  country 
into  the  body  politic  of  the  union.  But,  he  was  neverthe 
less  equally  kind  in  his  feelings  towards  them,  and  a 
thousand  fold  more  consistent  in  his  views  and  action 
under  those  feelings  ; — for  he  proposed  colonization,  as 
the  only  practicable  mode  of  placing  them  in  a  state  of 
national  independence.  The  particulars  of  this  plan  can 
not  now  be  given,  and  neither  is  it  necessary  to  the  pur 
pose  of  this  'brief  statement  of  facts,'  &c.  that  they  should 
be  stated.  It  is  enough  to  answer  the  writer's  object  to 
be  able  to  state,  upon  the  most  unquestionable  authority, 
that  Mr.  Jefferson  did  canvass  the  whole  subject,  arid 
after  the  maturest  deliberation  upon  all  its  various  bear 
ings,  and  intricate,  and  difficult  relations,  did  come  to  the 
conclusion  that  colonization,  and  colonization  alone, 
could  meet,  and  successfully,  fairly,  and  righteously,  dis 
pose  of  all  the  difficulties  growing  out  of  the  presence, 
and  increase  of  such  a  population  in  the  United  States. 
In  1787,  Dr.  Thomas  Thornton,  adopting  Mr.  Jefferson's 
idea  of  colonization,  as  the  only  possible  mode  of  con 
ferring  upon  the  free  people  of  colour  of  the  United 
States,  and  their  posterity,  all  the  rights,  privileges,  im 
munities,  franchises,  powers  and  offices  of  freemen,  form 
ed  a  plan  for  establishing  a  colony  on  the  coast  of  Africa, 
and  published  an  address  to  the  people  of  colour  residing 
in  Massachusetts,  and  Rhode  Island,  inviting  them  to  ac 
company  him  thither.  A  sufficient  number  agreed  to  go, 


228 

and  were  prepared  for  the  expedition,  but  the  project 
failed  for  want  of  the  necessary  funds. 

In  1800  and  1801,  the  legislature  of  Virginia,  being 
deeply  and  solemnly  impressed  with  a  sense  of  the  indis 
pensable  necessity  of  seeking  some  mode  of  relief,  from 
the  increasing  domestic  evils  produced  by  the  rapid  in 
crease  of  her  coloured  population,  determined,  in  secret 
session,  to  make  an  appeal  to  the  President  of  the  United 
States,  and  "urge  him  to  institute  negociations  with  some 
of  the  European  powers,  possessed  of  colonies  on  the 
coast  of  Africa,  to  grant  an  asylum  to  which  our  eman 
cipated  negroes  might  be  sent."  The  result  of  this  appli 
cation  to  the  President  of  the  United  States,  led  to  a 
correspondence  on  his  part,  with  the  Sierra  Leone  Com 
pany,  of  London,  and  the  government  of  Portugal,  each 
of  whom  refused  to  permit  the  introduction  of  coloured 
people  from  the  United  States,  into  their  respective  go 
vernments.  Mr.  Jefferson's  letter,  written  some  years 
after,  to  John  Lynd,  upon  this  subject,  is  so  comprehen 
sive  and  clear,  and  so  demonstrative  of  our  own  views, 
and  of  the  splendid  moral  effects  that  would  be  produced 
by  the  system  of  African  colonization,  that  we  feel  bound 
to  insert  it  in  this  place.  It  is  as  follows : 

Copy  of  a  letter  from  THOMAS  JEFFERSON,  late  President 
of  the  United  States,  to  John  Lynd. 

"Sin: — You  have  asked  my  opinion  on  the  proposition 
of  Ann  Miffliri,  to  take  measures  for  procuring  on  the 
coast  of  Africa,  an  establishment,  to  which  the  people  of 
colour  of  these  states,  might,  from  time  to  time,  be  colo 
nized  under  the  auspices  of  different  governments.  Hav 
ing  long  ago  made  up  my  mind  on  this  subject,  I  have 
no  hesitation  in  saying,  that  I  have  ever  thought  that  the 
most  desirable  measure  which  could  be  adopted,  for  gra 
dually  drawing  off  this  part  of  our  population — most 
advantageous  for  themselves,  as  well  as  for  us — going 
from  a  country  possessing  all  the  useful  arts,  they  might 
be  the  means  of  transplanting  them  among  the  inhabitants 
of  Africa,  and  thus  carry  back  to  the  country  of  their 
origin  the  seeds  of  civilization,  which  might  render  their 


229 

sojournment  here,  a  blessing  in  the  end  to  that  country. 
I  received,  the  last  year  of  my  entering  into  the  adminis 
tration  of  the  general  government,  a  letter  from  the  gov 
ernor  of  Virginia,  consulting  me,  at  the  request  of  the 
legislature  of  the  state,  on  the  means  of  procuring  some 
asylum,  to  which  these  people  might  be  occasionally  sent. 
I  proposed  to  him  the  establishment  of  Sierra  Leone,  in 
which  a  private  company  in  England  had  already  colonized 
a  number  of  negroes,  and  particularly  the  fugitives  from 
these  states  during  the  revolutionary  war ;  and  at  the  same 
time  suggested,  if  that  could  not  be  obtained,  some  of  the 
Portuguese  possessions  in  South  America,  as  most  desira 
ble.  The  subsequent  legislature  approving  these  ideas,  I 
wrote  the  ensuing  year  (1802)  to  Mr.  King,  our  minister  in 
London,  to  endeavour  to  negociate  with  the  Sierra  Leone 
Company,  and  induce  them  to  receive  such  of  these  peo 
ple  as  might  be  colonized  thither.  He  opened  a  corres 
pondence  with  Mr.  W ,  and  Mr.  Thornton,  on  the 

subject,  and  in  1803,  T  received,  through  Mr.  King,  the 
result,  which  was  that  the  colony  was  going  on  in  but  a 
languishing  condition — that  the  funds  of  the  company 
were  likely  to  fail,  as  they  received  no  return  of  profit  to 
keep  them  up ;  that  they  were  then  in  treaty  with  the 
government  to  take  the  establishment  off  their  hands;  but 
that  in  no  event  would  they  be  willing  to  receive  more 
of  these  people  from  the  United  States,  as  it  was  that 
portion  of  settlers  who  had  gone  from  the  United  States, 
who,  by  their  idleness  and  turbulence,  had  kept  the  set 
tlement  in  constant  danger  of  dissolution,  which  could 
not  have  been  prevented,  but  for  the  aid  of  the  maroon 
negroes  from  the  West  Indies,  who  were -more  industri 
ous  and  orderly  than  the  others,  and  supported  the  autho 
rity  of  the  government  and  its  laws.  I  think  I  learned 
afterwards,  that  the  British  government  had  taken  the 
colony  into  their  own  hands,  and  I  believe  it  still  exists. 
The  effort  which  I  made  with  Portugal  to  obtain  an  es 
tablishment  from  them,  within  their  colonies  in  South 
America,  proved  also  abortive.  You  inquired  further, 
whether  I  would  use  my  endeavours  to  procure  such  an 
establishment,  secure  against  violence  from  other  powers, 
and  particularly  the  French.  Certainly  I  shall  be  willing 
20* 


230 

to  do  any  thing  I  can,  to  give  it  effect  and  safety.  But 
lam  but  a  private  individual,  and  could  only  use  exer 
tions  with  individuals;  whereas,  the  national  government 
can  address  themselves  at  once  to  those  of  Europe,  to 
obtain  the  desired  securities,  and  will  unquestionably  be 
readjfcto  exert  its  influence  with  those  nations,  to  effect 
an  object  so  benevolent  in  itself,  and  so  important  to  a 
great  portion  of  its  constituents.  Indeed  nothing  is  more 
to  be  desired,  than  that  the  United  States  would  them 
selves  undertake  to  make  such  an  establishment  on  the 
coast  of  Africa.  Exclusive  of  motives  of  humanity,  the 
commercial  advantages  to  be  derived  from  it,  might 
defray  all  its  expenses — but  for  this  the  national  mind  is 
not  prepared.  It  may  perhaps  be  doubted,  whether 
many  of  these  people  would  voluntarily  consent  to  such 
an  exchange  of  situation,  and  but  few  of  those,  who  are 
advanced  to  a  certain  age  in  habits  of  slavery,  would  be 
capable  of  governing  themselves.  This  should  not,  how 
ever,  discourage  the  experiment,  nor  the  early  trial  of  it. 
And  propositions  should  be  made  with  all  the  prudent 
caution  requisite  to  reconcile  it  to  the  interest,  the  safety, 
and  prejudice  of  all  parties. 

"Accept  the  assurance  of  my  respect  and  esteem. 

"THOMAS  JEFFERSON/' 

For  the  purpose  of  keeping  up  the  continuity  of  the 
"facts"  in  relation  to  African  colonization,  it  is  proper 
here  to  remark,  that  "colonization  in  Africa,  with  refe 
rence  to  civilization,  appears  to  have  been  contemplated 
in  England  as  early  as  1775;  or  at  the  farthest  in  1780. 
A  definite  plan  was  projected  by  Dr.  H.  Smeathman,  who 
had  passed  some  years  in  Africa,  in  his  letters  to  Dr. 
Knowles,  in  1783.  The  first  removal  to  Sierra  Leone 
was  in  1787.  The  people  from  Nova  Scotia,  who  had 
been  slaves  in  the  United  States,  but  who  absconded  dur 
ing  the  revolutionary  war,  were  removed  1791,  and  the 
maroons  from  Jamaica,  it  is  believed,  in  1805.  The 
liberations  from  slave  ships  on  the  ocean,  and  on  the 
coast,  and  in  the  rivers  of  Africa,  have  been  wholly,  since 
the  abolition  of  the  slave  trade  in  1807.  The  colony  was 
supported  by  the  Sierra  Leone  Company  until  1808, 


231 

when  it  was  taken  under  the  patronage  of  the  British 
government.  It  is  now  in  a  flourishing  condition."  But 
to  return  to  the  progress  of  the  cause  in  our  own  country. 
It  would  seem  from  Mr.  Jefferson's  letter,  that  the  result 
of  his  application  to  the  Sierra  Leone  Company,  of  Lon 
don,  and  the  government  of  Portugal,  was  not  known 
until  1803.  From  that  period  to  1816,  there  seems  to 
have  been  no  legislative  arraignment,  or  expression  of 
public  opinion  on  the  subject.  A  death-like  silence  and 
stillness  seem  to  have  ensued.  But  in  1816,  after  the 
lapse  of  thirteen  years,  the  subject  was  again  revived — 
not  at  the  fire-side  only,  nor  in  the  neighbourhood  cir 
cles — but  in  the  legislative  halls  of  one  of  the  old  thirteen 
states.  The  lapse  of  thirteen  years  had  increased  the 
difficulties  with  which  the  subject  was  encumbered,  while 
the  evils  which  had  been  sought  to  be  remedied,  instead 
of  being  mitigated  by  the- years  that  had  passed  away 
since  it  was  last  legislatively  pondered,  had  increased  and 
gathered  additional  strength.  The  venomous  fangs  thereof 
were  spreading  wider  and  wider,  and  all  the  wrhile  taking 
a  deeper  and  firmer  root.  A  distinguished  Virginia  ora 
tor,  still  living,  and  active  in  the  cause  of  his  country, 
and  his  country's  weal,  thus  speaks  in  an  address  upon 
the  subject.  "The  rapid  increase  of  the  free  people  of 
colour,  by  which  their  number  was  extended  in  the  ten 
years  preceding  the  last  census  of  the  United  States,  from 
fifteen  to  thirty  thousand,  if  it  has  not  endangered  our 
peace,  has  impaired  the  value  of  private  property  in  a 
large  section  of  our  country.  Upon  our  low  lands/'  said 
Mr.  Mercer,  "it  seems  as  if  some  malediction  had  been 
shed — the  habitations  of  our  fathers  have  sunk  into  ruins; 
the  fields  which  they  tilled  have  become  a  wilderness. 
Such  is  the  table  lands  between  the  valleys  of  our  great 
rivers.  Those  newly  grown  and  almost  impenetrable 
thickets  which  have  succeeded  a  wretched  cultivation, 
shelter  and  conceal  a  wretched  banditti,  consisting  of 
this  degraded,  idle,  and  vicious  population,  who  sally 
forth  from  their  coverts,  beneath  the  obscurity  of  the 
night,  and  plunder  the  rich  proprietors  of  the  valleys. 
They  infest  the  suburbs  of  the  towns  and  cities,  where 
they  become  the  depositories  of  stolen  goods,  and  schooled 


232 

by  necessity,  elude  the  vigilance  of  our  defective  police." 
This  state  of  things,  graphically  described  in  the  quota 
tion  above,  instead  of  checking  the  spirit  of  "African 
colonization,"  seems  to  have  given  it  an  additional  im 
pulse.  Hence  we  find  the  subject — the  whole  subject — 
before  the  legislature  of  Virginia,  in  open  session  in  1816. 
The  following  resolution  was  then  submitted,  canvassed, 
discussed,  bored  through  and  through,  and  after  all  this 
searching  operation,  it  passed  the  popular  branch,  with 
but  nine  dissenting  voices  out  of  one  hundred  and  forty- 
six,  and  a  full  quorum  of  the  senate,  with  but  one ! 
"  Whereas,  the  general  assembly  of  Virginia  have  repeat 
edly  sought  to  obtain  an  asylum,  beyond  the  limits  of  the 
United  States,  for  such  persons  of  colour  as  had  been,  or 
might  be  emancipated  under  the  laws  of  this  common 
wealth,  but  have  hitherto  found  all  their  efforts  frustrated, 
either  by  the  disturbed  state  of  other  nations,  or  domestic 
causes  equally  unpropitious  to  its  success ;  they  now  avail 
themselves  of  a  period  when  peace  has  healed  the  wounds 
of  humanity,  and  the  principal  nations  of  Europe  have 
concurred  with  the  government  of  the  United  States  in 
abolishing  the  African  slave  trade,  (a  trade  which  this 
commonwealth,  both  before  and  since  the  revolution, 
zealously  sought  to  terminate,)  to  renew  this  effort.  And 
do  therefore  resolve,  That  the  executive  be  requested  to 
correspond  with  the  president  of  the  United  States,  for 
the  purpose  of  obtaining  a  territory  on  the  coast  of  Africa, 
or  at  some  other  place,  not  within  any  of  the  territorial 
governments  of  the  United  States,  to  serve  as  an  asylum 
for  such  persons  of  colour  as  are  now  free,  and  may  de 
sire  the  same,  and  for  those  who  may  hereafter  be  eman 
cipated  within  this  commonwealth.  And  that  the  senators 
and  representatives  in  the  congress  of  the  United  States, 
be  requested  to  exert  their  best  efforts  to  aid  the  president 
of  the  United  States  in  the  attainment  of  the  above  ob 
jects;  provided,  that  no  contract  or  arrangement  for  such 
territory  shall  be  obligatory  on  this  commonwealth,  until 
ratified  by  the  legislature." 

By  one  of  those  remarkable  coincidences,  which  never 
fail  to  impress  deep  upon  the  thoughtful  mind,  the  con 
soling  doctrine  of  an  all- wise  and  overruling  Providence, 


233 

whose  purposes  of  mercy  are  commensurate  to  the  wants 
and  miseries  of  mankind  ;  it  seems  to  have  been  so  order 
ed,  that  while  the  foregoing  preamble  and  resolutions  of 
the  legislature  of  Virginia,  were  in  discussion,  before  that 
body,  the  untiring  friends  of  the  great  measure,  so  long 
thought  of,  but  never  fairly  embodied,  were,  without  pre 
vious  concert,  wending  their  way  from  the  different 
states  of  the  union,  to  the  seat  of  the  general  government, 
and  among  them,  was  the  late  Rev.  Dr.  Robert  Findley, 
of  New  Jersy.  This  gentleman  had  devoted  much  of  his 
time  to  the  consideration  of  African  colonization.  He 
felt  confident  that  it  was  practicable  to  establish  a  colony 
of  free  blacks  in  their  fatherland.  He  sympathized  deep 
ly  with  them  in  their  degraded  condition  here,  and  re 
garded  it  to  be  incurable,  so  long  as  they  should  remain 
in  the  United  States,  Motives  of  kindness  to  them,  con 
siderations  of  the  most  comprehensive  Christian  charity 
to  the  native  African  race,  and  a  due  regard  to  the  inter 
nal  peace  and  future  prosperity  of  his  own  country,  mo 
ved  him  to  an  interchange  of  views,  with  the  intelligent 
and  patriotic  citizens  of  the  District  of  Columbia,  and 
others,  then  in  Washington  City,  from  almost  every  state 
and  territory  of  the  United  States.  It  was  unanimously 
agreed  by  them,  to  call  a  public  meeting,  for  the  purpose 
of  discussing  the  propriety,  the  expediency,  and  practi 
cability  of  this  great  measure,  which  had  been  for  so  long 
a  time  an  object  of  so  much  solicitude  to  the  patriot,  the 
Christian,  and  the  philanthropist.  A  meeting  was  called, 
and  held  in  one  of  the  large  rooms  of  Brown's  hotel,  on 
Pennsylvania  avenue.  The  honorable  HENRY  CLAY, 
speaker  of  the  house  of  representatives  of  the  congress  of 
the  United  States,  was  called  to  the  chair,  and  THOMAS 
DOUGHERTY,  esq.  clerk  of  the  house,  was  appointed  sec 
retary. 

"In  presenting  the  subject  to  the  consideration  of  the 
meeting,  the  honourable  chairman,,  after  noticing  the 
various  schemes  and  plans  that  had  been  thought  of,  to 
better  the  condition  of  the  free  people  of  colour,  of  the 
United  States,  came  out  with  a  decided  preference  for 
some  part  of  the  coast  of  Africa  as  the  most  suitable  the 
atre  upon  which  to  carry  out  the  wishes  and  purposes  of 


234 

their  friends.  'There,'  said  he,  'ample  provision  might 
be  made  for  the  colony  itself,  and  it  might  be  rendered 
instrumental  to  the  introduction,  into  that  extensive  quar 
ter  of  the  globe,  of  the  arts,  civilization,  and  Christianity. 
There  was  a  peculiar,  a  moral  fitness  in  restoring  them 
to  the  land  of  their  fathers.  And  if,  instead  of  the  evils 
and  sufferings  which  we  have  been  the  innocent  cause  of 
inflicting  upon  the  inhabitants  of  Africa,  we  can  transmit 
to  her  the  blessings  of  our  arts,  our  civilization,  and  our 
religion,  may  we  not  hope  that  America  will  extinguish 
a  great  portion  of  that  moral  debt  which  she  has  contrac 
ted  to  that  unfortunate  continent.'  He  then  proceeded  to 
encourage  the  meeting  to  attempt  the  enterprise,  by  the  suc 
cess  which  had  attended  the  British  colony  of  Sierra  Leone. 
'We  have,'  said  he,  'their  example  before  us,  and  can 
there  be  a  nobler  cause  than  that,  which,  while  it  purposes 
to  rid  our  own  country  of  a  useless  and  pernicious,  if  not 
dangerous  portion  of  its  population,  contemplates  the 
spreading  of  the  arts  of  civilized  life,  and  the  possible  re 
demption  from  ignorance  and  barbarism  of  a  benighted 
quarter  of  the  globe.' 

Mr.  CLAY  was  followed  by  ELIAS  B.  CALDWELL,  of  the 
District  of  Columbia,  who,  in  a  most  able  speech,  demon 
strated  the  expediency  of  the  measure — the  necessity  of 
early  attempting  it — and  the  certainty  of  success.  The 
Hon.  JOHN  RANDOLPH,  of  Roanoke,  followed  Mr.  Cald- 
well,  and  after  dwelling,  in  his  usual  clear  and  forcible 
manner,  upon  the  wisdom  displayed  by  the  friends  of  the 
cause,  in  omitting  to  "touch,  in  the  smallest  degree,  ano 
ther  very  important  and  delicate  question,"  gave  to  the 
scheme  his  approbation.  "In  a  worldly  point  of  view,  then," 
said  he,  "without  entering  into  the  general  question,  and 
apart  from  those  higher  and  nobler  motives  which  had 
been  presented  to  the  meeting,  the  owners  of  slaves  were 
interested  in  providing  a  retreat  for  this  part  of  our  popu 
lation.  Ther£  was  no  fear  that  this  proposition  would 
alarm  them  ;  they  had  been  accustomed  to  think  serious 
ly  of  the  subject ;  there  was  a  popular  work  on  agricul 
ture,  by  JOHN  TAYLOR,  of  Caroline,  which  was  widely 
circulated  and  much  confided  in,  in  Virginia.  In  that 
book,  much  read,  because  coming  from  a  practical  man, 


235 

this  description  of  people  were  pointed  out  as  a  great  evil. 
If  a  place  could  be  provided  for  their  reception,  and  a 
mode  of  sending  them  hence,  there  were  hundreds,  nay, 
thousands,  of  citizens  who  would,  by  manumitting  their 
slaves,  relieve  themselves  from  the  cares  attendant  on 
their  possession."  The  honourable  ROBERT  WRIGHT,  of 
Maryland,  said  "he  could  not  withhold  his  approbation  of 
a  measure  that  had  for  its  object  the  melioration  of  the 
lot  of  any  portion  of  the  human  race,  particularly  of  the 
free  people  of  colour,  whose  degraded  state  robs  them  of 
the  happiness  of  self-government,  so  dear  to  the  Ameri 
can  people."  Mr.  Caldwell  then  submitted  the  follow 
ing  preamble  and  resolutions,  which  were  unanimously 
adopted: 

"The  situation  of  the  free  people  of  colour  in  the  Uni 
ted  States  has  been  the  subject  of  anxious  solicitude  with 
many  of  our  most  distinguished  citizens,  from  the  first 
existence  of  our  country  as  an  independent  nation ;  but 
the  great  difficulty  and  embarrassment  attending  the  es 
tablishment  of  an  infant  nation,  when  first  struggling  into 
existence,  and  the  subsequent  convulsions  of  Europe, 
have  hitherto  prevented  any  great  national  effort  to  pro 
vide  a  remedy  for  the  evils  existing,  or  apprehended. 
The  present  period  seems  peculiarly  auspicious  to  invite 
attention  to  this  important  subject,  and  gives  a  well 
grounded  hope  of  success — the  nations  of  Europe  are 
hushed  into  peace — unexampled  efforts  are  making  in 
various  parts  of  the  world  to  diffuse  knowledge,  civiliza 
tion,  and  the  benign  influence  of  the  Christian  religion — 
the  rights  of  man  are  becoming  daily  better  understood — 
the  legitimate  objects  of  government,  as  founded  for  the 
benefit,  and  intended  for  the  happiness  of  man,  are  more 
generally  acknowledged,  and  an  ardent  zeal  for  the  hap 
piness  of  the  human  race  is  kindled  in  almost  every 
heart.  Desirous  of  aiding  in  the  great  cause  of  philan 
thropy,  and  of  promoting  the  prosperity  and  happiness 
of  our  country,  it  is  recommended  by  this  meeting  to 
form  an  association,  or  society,  for  the  purpose  of  giving 
aid,  and  assisting  in  the  colonization  of  the  free  people 
of  colour  in  the  United  States — therefore, 

"Resolved,  That  an  association  or  society  be  founded 


236 

for  the  purpose  of  collecting  information  of  a  plan  for  the 
colonization  of  the  free  people  of  colour,  with  their  con 
sent,  in  Africa,  or  elsewhere,  as  may  be  thought  advisa 
ble  by  the  constituted  authorities  of  the  country. 

"Resolved,  That  Elias  B.  Caldwell,  John  Randoph, 
Richard  Rush,  Walter  Jones,  Francis  S.  Key,  Robert 
Wright,  James  H.  Blake,  and  John  Peter,  be  a  commit 
tee  to  present  a  respectful  memorial  to  congress,  request 
ing  them  to  adopt  such  measures  as  may  be  thought  most 
advisable  for  procuring  a  territory  in  Africa,  or  elsewhere, 
suitable  for  the  colonization  of  the  free  people  of  colour. 

"Resolved,  That  Francis  S.  Key,  Bushrod  Washing 
ton,  Elias  B.  Caldwell,  James  Breckenridge,  Walter 
Jones,  Richard  Rush,  and  W.  G.  D.  Worthington,  be  a 
committee  to  prepare  a  constitution  and  rules  for  the  go 
vernment  of  the  association  or  society  above  mentioned, 
and  report  the  same  to  the  next  meeting  for  considera 
tion. 

"The  meeting  then  adjourned  to  meet  again  on  Satur 
day,  28th  December,  in  the  hall  of  the  house  of  represen 
tatives. 

"HENRY  CLAY,  Chairman. 

"THOMAS  DOUGHERTY,  Secretary." 

An  adjourned  meeting  was  held  in  the  hall  of  the 
house  of  representatives  of  the  United  States,  on  Satur 
day  the  28th  December,  at  which  meeting  a  constitution 
for  the  society  was  presented,  discussed,  and  adopted — 
and  this  grand  enterprise,  so  long  thought  of,  and  so  ar 
dently  laboured  after,  was  ushered  forth  under  the  name 
and  style  of  "The  American  Society  for  colonizing  the 
free  people  of  colour  of  the  United  States  ;* — and  on 
Wednesday,  January  1st,  1817,  the  society  met,  and 
elected  the  following  officers : 

The  Hon.  BUSHROD  WASHINGTON,  President. 

Vice-Presidents:  Hon.  William  H.  Crawford,  of  Geor 
gia,  Hon.  Henry  Clay,  of  Kentucky,  Hon.  William  Phillips, 
of  Massachusetts,  Hon.  John  E.  Howard,  of  Maryland, 
Hon.  Somuel  Smith,  of  Maryland,  Hon.  John  C.  Herbert, 
of  Maryland,  Col.  Henry  Rutgers,  of  New  York,  John 
Taylor.  Esq.  of  Caroline,  Virginia,  Gen.  Andrew  Jack 
son,  of  Tennessee,  Robert  Ralston,  Esq.,  Richard  Rush, 


n  of  Pennsylvania,  Gen.  John  Mason,  District  of 
bia.  Rev.  Robert  Find  ley,  of  New  Jersey, 

Manager* — Francis  8.  Key*  John  Laird,  Her,  8*  B. 
Balch,  James  H.  Blake,  Edmund  I.  Lee,  Jacob  Hoffman, 
Walter  Jones,  Rev,  Jarnes  Laurie,  Rev.  (X  B*  Brown, 
Peter,  William  Thornton,  Henry  Carroll 

E.  B-  Caldwell,  Secretary;  W.  G.  Worthington,  Re 
cording  Secretary ;  David  English,  Treasurer. 

"The  society  being  thus  organized,  and  patronized  by 
some  of  the  most  distinguished  citizens  of  the  United 
States,  the  board  of  managers  and  other  officers  who 
were  charged  with  the  execution  of  the  preparatory  mea 
sures,  were  soon  apprised  that  some  public  spirited  indi 
vidual*,  honestly  doubting  the  practicability  of  securing  a 
suitable  territory  in  Africa,  would  not  aid  the  cause  until 
the  success  of  this  measure  should  be  clearly  ascertained. 
They  also  found  a  number  of  others  who  doubted,  even 
if  a  territory  were  secured,  whether  the  free  people  of 
colour  of  the  United  States,  would  under  any  circum 
stances,  ever  consent  to  leave  the  places  of  their  nativity, 
for  the  purpose  of  seeking  a  new  home,  in  a  foreign  land, 
among  uncultivated  strangers ;  if  they  should  consent  to 
go,  it  was  deemed  impossible  for  them,  from  their  previous 
habits,  to  govern  themselves.  Hence  the  whole  scheme 
was  ridiculed  by  many,  who  called  its  advocates  Uto 
pian*,  amiable  enthusiasts,  and  Quixotic  adventurers. 
But  'none  of  these  things  moved'  the  noble  patrons  and 
advocates  of  this  great  cause,  from  their  high  and  holy 
purpose,  to  give  a  country  and  a  home  to  a  large  portion 
of  the  degraded  population  of  the  United  States.  They 
acted  upon  the  principle  'that  scarcely  any  thing — nothing 
Is  beyond  the  power  of  those  who,  in  the  pursuit  of  a 
just  purpose,  approved  by  good  men,  and  sanctioned  by 
Providence,  boldly  and  resolqtely  determine  to  command 
success.'  In  less  than  one  year  after  the  organization  of 
the  society,  we  find  two  distinguished  citizens,  eminently 
qualified  for  the  important  trust,  on  their  passage  to  Africa, 
with  instructions  to  explore  the  western  coast  of  that 
continent,  and  to  collect  such  information  as  might  assist 
the  government  of  the  United  States  in  selecting  a  suita 
ble  district  of  country  there,  for  the  proposed  settlement. 
21 


238 

In  the  same  year  the  cities  of  New  York,  Philadelphia, 
and  Baltimore,  formed  societies  auxiliary  to  the  benign 
objects  of  the  parent  institution,  and  it  is  a  cause  of  just 
pride  to  Maryland,  that  her  citizens  in  Baltimore,  contri 
buted  in  January,  1818,  $3,453,  to  aid  in  the  preparatory 
measures  of  this  great  enterprise.  Many  other  important 
societies  were  formed  in  other  parts  of  the  state,  and  in 
other  states  both  in  the  north  and  south.  In  view  of 
these  cheering  presages,  we  find  the  venerable  president 
of  the  parent  society,  thus  closing  his  first  anniversary 
address  to  its  members :  'In  the  magnificent  plans  now 
carrying  on  for  the  improvement  and  happiness  of  man 
kind,  in  many  parts  of  the  world,  we  can  but  discern  the 
interposition  of  that  Almighty  Power,  who  alone  could 
inspire  and  crown  with  success  these  great  purposes. 
But  among  them  all,  there  is,  perhaps,  none  upon  which 
we  may  more  Confidently  implore  the  blessing  of  heaven, 
than  that  in  which  we  are  now  associated.  Whether 
we  consider  the  grandeur  of  the  object,  and  the  wide 
sphere  of  philanthropy  which  it  embraces,  or  whether  we 
view  the  present  state  of  its  progress,  under  the  auspices 
of  this  society,  and  under  the  obstacles  which  might  have 
been  expected  from  the  cupidity  of  many,  we  may  dis 
cover  in  each,  a  certain  pledge  that  the  same  benignant 
hand  which  has  made  these  preparatory  arrangements, 
will  crown  our  efforts  with  success.  Having,  therefore, 
these  motives  of  piety  to  consecrate  and  strengthen  the 
powerful  considerations  which  a  wise  policy  suggests, 
we  may,  I  trust,  confidently  rely  upon  the  public  for  the 
necessary  means  of  effecting  this  highly  interesting 
object.' 

"How  must  his  pious  and  patriotic  heart  have  been 
gladdened,  and  how  must  his  faith  in  the  truth  of  his 
doctrine  'of  reliance  upon  the  benignant  hand  of  Provi 
dence,'  have  been  strengthened,  when  he  read  the  follow 
ing  resolution,  which  unanimously  passed  the  legislature  of 
Maryland,  in  January,  1818:  'By  the  house  of  delegates, 
January  26,  1818:  Resolved  unanimously,  that  the  gov 
ernor  be  requested  to  communicate  to  the  president  of 
the  United  States,  and  to  our  senators  and  representa 
tives  in  congress,  the  opinion  of  this  general  assembly : 


239 

that  a  wise  and  provident  policy  suggests  the  expediency, 
on  the  part  of  our  national  government,  of  procuring 
through  negociation,  by  cession  or  purchase,  a  tract  of 
country  on  the  western  coast  of  Africa,  for  the  coloniza 
tion  of  the  free  people  of  colour  of  the  United  States. 

'Louis  GASSAWAY,  Clerk.'' 

"The  state  of  Tennessee  passed  a  similar  resolution — 
and,  including  Virginia,  the  first  state  which  legislated 
upon  the  subject,  thirteen  others  have  subsequently  fol 
lowed  their  example.  While  the  society  was  zealously 
promoting  the  preliminary  measures,  necessary  to  com 
mand  success  at  home,  it  was  not  indifferent  to  the  ob 
structions  existing  on  the  coast  of  Africa,  produced  by 
the  almost  universal  legitimation  of  the  slave  trade.  The 
nations  of  Europe  had  for  centuries,  regarded  the  African 
race  as  objects  of  fair  mercantile  speculation,  and  although 
Great  Britain  and  the  United  States  had  formally  pro 
scribed  it,  and  the  latter,  as  early  as  1808,  it  was  still 
carried  on  by  the  subjects  and  citizens  of  each  govern 
ment,  and  those  of  France,  Spain  and  Portugal,  to  an 
unprecedented  extent,  both  as  it  regarded  the  number  of 
the  victims  of  this  wretched  trade,  and  the  savage  cruel 
ties  inflicted  on  them  by  their  captors.  To  avert  this 
foul  traffic — to  render  its  pursuit  more  difficult  and 
hazardous,  the  society  memorialized  congress  to  pass  an 
act  declaring  its  true  character  to  be  piracy.  In  the  re 
port  of  the  committee  of  the  house  of  representatives  of 
the  United  States,  on  the  memorial  of  the  president  and 
board  of  managers  of  the  American  society  for  coloniz 
ing  the  free  people  of  colour  of  the  United  States,  we  find 
the  following  language :  "Referring  to  the  memorial 
itself,  and  to  the  report  of  the  committee  on  the  slave 
trade,  to  the  fourteenth  congress,  your  committee  beg 
leave  to  add,  that  a  new  interest  has  been  recently  in 
spired  to  the  benevolent  enterprise  of  the  memorialists,  by 
the  prospect  of  a  speedy  termination  of  that  odious  traffic, 
which  has  been  so  long  the  crime  of  Europe,  the  scourge 
of  Africa,  and  the  affliction  and  disgrace  of  America. 
Spain  and  Portugal  have  at  length  concurred  in  that  just 
and  humane  policy  of  the  United  States,  which  Great  Bri 
tain  was  the  first  to  imitate,  and  which,  by  her  liberal  and 


240 

unremitting  zeal,  she  has  successfully  extended  through 
out  the  civilized  world.  So  far  as  the  civilization  of 
Africa,  the  victim  of  this  inhuman  traffic,  is  embraced 
among  the  views  of  the  memorialists,  the  removal  of  this 
formidable  impediment  to  their  success,  is  calculated  to 
elevate  the  hopes  of  the  philanthropist,  and  to  secure  to 
their  enterprise  a  larger  share  of  public  confidence. 
America  cannot  but  sympathise  in  the  wish  to  redeem 
from  ignorance,  barbarism  and  superstition,  a  continent 
of  such  extent,  spread  out  beneath  every  clime,  embrac 
ing  every  variety  of  soil,  and  inhabited  by  a  much  in 
jured  and  degraded  portion  of  the  human  race."  The 
committee  then  proceed  to  notice  "a  yet  stronger  incen 
tive  to  recommend  this  enterprise  to  the  countenance  arid 
favour  of  the  house,  from  considerations  peculiar  to  the 
United  States."  Then  referring  to  the  report  presented 
to  the  last  congress,  they  say:  "They  cannot,  however, 
forbear  to  remark,  that  time  is  unceasingly  aggravating 
all  those  domestic  evils,  for  which  the  memorialists  pro 
pose  the  only  competent  remedy,  and  that  the  most  auspi 
cious  circumstances  conspire  at  present  to  promote  its 
successful  application." 

On  the  3d  of  March,  1818,  the  congress  of  the  United 
States  passed  an  act,  entitled  "An  act  in  addition  to  the 
acts  prohibiting  the  slave  trade."  By  that  act,  the  pre 
sident  of  the  United  States  was  fully  authorized  and  em 
powered,  whenever  he  might  deem  it  expedient,  to  direct 
the  armed  vessels  of  the  United  States  to  cruise  on  the 
coast  of  the  United  States,  and  on  the  coast  of  Africa, 
and  to  seize,  take,  and  bring  into  any  port  of  the  United 
States,  all  ships  or  vessels,  owned  in  part,  or  in  whole, 
by  citizens,  or  residents  in  the  United  States,  "which  may 
have  taken  on  board,  or  which  may  be  intended  for  the 
purpose  of  taking  on  board,  or  of  transporting,  or  may 
have  transported  any  negro,  mulatto,  or  person  of  colour, 
in  violation  of  the  provisions  of  the  acts  of  congress,  pro 
hibiting  the  slave  trade,  to  be  proceeded  against  accord 
ing  to  law."  The  act  also  allowed  a  just  and  equitable 
bonus  to  the  officers  and  men  of  the  United  States'  navy, 
who  might  succeed  in  capturing  vessels,  or  ships,  owned 
by  citizens,  or  residents  in  the  United  States,  engaged,  or 


241 

preparing  lo  engage  in  the  African  slave  trade.  It  further 
more  provided,  for  the  reception  and  maintenance  in  the 
United  States,  of  all  re-captured  Africans,  until  such  time 
as  they  might,  or  could  be  restored  to  their  own  country. 
And  to  expedite  a  measure  so  just  in  itself,  and  as  such, 
in  accordance  with  the  benign  maxims  and  principles  of 
Christianity,  conferred  upon  the  president  of  the  United 
States,  the  power  to  appoint  one  or  more  suitable  per 
sons,  to  reside  on  the  coast  of  Africa,  for  the  purpose  of 
receiving,  sheltering,  feeding,  clothing,  and  protecting, 
for  a  limited  time,  all  Africans  so  re-captured.  The  con 
struction  given  lo  that  act  by  the  then  president  of  the 
United  States,  (the  late  amiable  and  excellent  JAMES 
MONROE,)  was  such  as  brought  the  general  government 
into  a  friendly  collateral  alliance  with  the  society,  and 
one  of  its  objects,  which  was  the  utter  annihilation  of  the 
African  slave  trade. 

The  establishment  on  the  coast  of  Africa,  of  a  United 
States'  agency,  for  the  benevolent  purposes  set  forth  in 
the  act  referred  to,  could  not,  as  it  was  then  well  and 
truly  believed,  fail  to  attract  the  favourable  notice  of 
foreign  nations,  and  produce  among  them,  as  well  as 
among  the  citizens  of  the  United  States,  a  deeper  and 
more  abiding  interest  in  behalf  oi  the  long  neglected  and 
abused  inhabitants  of  that  continent.  Without  such  an 
appointment  it  would  have  been  the  madness  of  folly  to 
have  attempted  the  establishment  of  a  colony  on  the  coast, 
for  it  was  then  lined  with  slavers,  all  of  whom  would 
have  united,  to  a  man,  to  crush  in  its  infancy,  a  colony, 
whose  objects  and  tendencies  were  so  directly  adverse 
to  them  and  their  trade.  The  society  having  thus  secur 
ed  the  indirect,  though  most  efficient  co-operation  of  the 
national  government,  without  which  it  could  ^not  have 
taken  one  successful  step  in  the  great  and  glorious  work 
of  African  colonization,  proceeded  to  make  the  necessary 
preparations  to  despatch  its  first  expedition  of  voluntary 
emigrants  to  the  land  of  their  ancestors.  The  views  and 
feelings— the  hopes  and  the  fears,  which  alternately  po: 
sessed  the  minds  of  the  managers  of  the  society,  at  th 
most  interesting  period  of  its  existence,  cannot  be  i 
us  of  the  present  day— they  can  only  be  imagined.  An 
21* 


242 

experiment,  involving  the  interest  of  two  great  con 
tinents,  was  to  be  made.  The  future  domestic  peace 
and  tranquillity  of  their  own  descendants,  and  the  regen 
eration  of  a  vast  continent,  barbarized  and  irnbruited  by 
the  acts  and  deeds  of  civilized  nations,  were  involved  in 
the  success  of  the  experiment  they  were  about  to  make. 
Their  views  and  feelings  at  that  time,  are  thus  expressed 
in  their  third  annual  report:  "A  revolution  so  beneficent, 
so  extended,  and  so  glorious,  requires  to  effect  it,  the  con 
cert  and  the  resources  of  a  nation.  The  people  of  Ame 
rica  have  the  power  to  secure  its  success  against  the 
uncertainty  of  an  accident.  They  are  summoned  to  the 
performance  of  this  duty,  by  the  most  urgent  and  power 
ful  incentives  of  interest  and  of  justice,  and  the  tenderest 
claims  of  humanity.  Its  final  accomplishment  will  be  a 
triumph  over  superstition,  ignorance  and  vice,  worthy  of 
a  people  destined,  it  may  be  fondly  hoped,  to  surpass  all 
other  nations,  in  the  arts  of  civilized  life.  The  Coloni 
zation  Society  is  about  to  lay  the  corner  stone  of  this 
edifice — whether  it  shall  rise  to  strength  and  grandeur, 
is  now  for  the  government  and  people  of  America,  under 
the  over-ruling  Providence  of  heaven  to  decide."  A  few 
facts  will  now  show  the  progress  of  this  great  work  of 
Christian  benevolence,  in  Africa.  It  will  be  recollected, 
that  in  1817,  when  this  society  was  organized,  many  of 
the  good  citizens  of  the  United  States  declined  to  aid  the 
cause,  until  it  should  be  ascertained  that  a  suitable  terri 
tory  could  be  secured  in  Africa.  This  they  honestly 
doubted,  and  for  reasons  which  would  have  stood  good 
to  this  day,  and  forever,  if  the  cause  had  not  been  of  GOD. 
The  injuries  inflicted  upon  that  people,  and  their  total 
aversion  thereby,  to  morality,  and  their  consequent  want 
of  confidence  in  the  white  race,  presented  barriers  which 
nothing  short  of  divine  arrangement,  and  providential  in 
terference  could  have  overcome.  Others  again,  had  de 
termined  to  believe  that  the  free  people  of  colour  of  the 
United  States,  would  not,  under  any  circumstances  within 
their  control,  ever  consent  to  go  to  Africa. 

"Too  many  of  this  class,  the  writer  of  this  brief  state 
ment  of"  facts  regrets  to  say,  have  done  all  that  they  could 
do,  to  realize  their  own  sagacious  prediction.  But  how 


243 

stands  the  case  now?— why,  in  the  first  place,  the  society 
did  in  1821  and  1822,  procure  a  territory  in  Africa, 
which  territory  in  1832,  extended  from  Grand  Cape 
Mount  to  Trade  Town,  a  distance  of  280  miles,  and  now 
embraces  a  much  larger  extent,  both  of  coast  and  the 
interior  of  country.  In  the  second  place,  there  has  been 
transported  to  Liberia,  (the  name  of  the  society's  territory) 
from  1821  to  this  period,  thousands  of  emigrants,  whose 
faculties,  while  they  were  in  the  United  States,  were  so 
contracted  as  to  induce  the  opinion  with  some,  that  they 
were  intellectually  vastly  inferior  to  the  whites,  who  have 
manifested  a  capability  of  expansion  of  intellect  and  of 
moral  culture,  which  most  forcibly  demonstrates  their  re 
lationship  to  the  great  mass  of  mankind. 

"This  first  colony,  planted  in  Africa  by  American  be 
nevolence,  has,  in  a  few  short  years,  produced  a  greater 
amount  of  moral  good  to  the  inhabitants  of  that  continent, 
than  could  have  been  effected  by  any  other  means  in  a 
whole  century.  The  combined  naval  forces  of  England 
and  America,  though  they  might  have  cut  off,  to  a  great 
extent,  the  African  slave  trade,  could  never  have  inspired 
the  natives  with  a  relish  for  the  blessings  of  civilization  and 
Christianity.  This  has  been  done,  and  is  now  doing,  by 
the  means  of  colonization,  to  an  extent,  which  fully  justi 
fies  the  belief,  and  should  command  the  confidence  of 
every  man,  that  colonization  is  the  great  instrument,  by 
and  through  which,  the  Almighty  purposes  to  restore 
that  long  fallen  and  degraded  continent,  to  all  the  bless 
ings  of  civilization  and  Christianity.  Beacon  fires  from 
Mesurado,  Cape  Palmas,  Mellsburgh,  Caldvvell,  Grand 
Bassa,  and  other  prominent  and  important  points,  are 
now  sending  forth  abroad  blaze  of  light,  illuminating  the 
darkness,  and  cheering  the  desolation  of  the  contiguous 
tribes,  Already  many  of  them  have  sprung  into  new  ex 
istence.  Turning  away  with  disgust  and  horror  from  the 
traffic  in  each  'others  blood,  to  which  they  had  been 
trained  from  generation  to  generation,  and  by  which  then- 
race  has  been  scattered  and  peeled,  they  are  now  culti 
vating  their  own  rich  soil,  dressing  and  pruning  their 
own  palm  trees,  gathering  their  own  pure  gold,  ivory, 
valuable  dyes,  fragrant  and  beautiful  gums,  and  healing 


244 

plants  and  drugs,  and  bearing  them  into  Monrovia,  Cape 
Palmas,  and  other  settlements  on  the  coast,  for  barter 
and  exchange.  Their  children,  losing  their  relish  for  sa 
vage  life,  are  now  learning  in  the  schools  of  the  colonies, 
the  language,  the  customs,  the  mechanic  arts,  and  the 
religion,  of  our  emancipated  slaves  ;  who,  in  their  turn, 
are  gradually  laying  the  foundation  for  an  empire  of 
republics,  breathing  the  spirit  of  our  own  happy  institu 
tions.  Well,  and  truly,  did  the  honourable  HENRY  CLAY, 
the  patriot,  the  statesman,  and  the  friend  of  man,  speak, 
when  he  said,  'but  the  benevolent  purpose  of  the  scheme 
is  not  limited  to  the  confines  of  one  continent,  nor  to  the 
prosperity  of  a  solitary  race/  It  is  now  made  as  clear 
as  the  light  of  heaven's  sun,  that  it  will,  under  suitable 
patronage,  gradually  remove  from  our  own  borders,  a 
great  political  and  social  evil ;  and  at  the  same  time  con 
ifer  upon  Africa,  a  benefit,  which  will  in  the  end,  pay, 
with  ample  and  glorious  interest  the  debt  so  long  due  to 
her,  a  debt  in  men,  money  and  morals. 

It  is  readily  granted — it  is  a  position  so  clear,  so  per 
fectly  palpable,  that  no  friend  of  the  cause  has  ever 
dreamed  of  reasoning  against  it,  that  private  voluntary 
donations  will  not  produce  a  sufficient  amount  of  means 
to  carry  on  the  cause,  as  rapidly  as  it  ought  now  to  ad 
vance.  This  was  happily  foreseen  by  the  legislature  of 
Maryland  in  1831—2,  and  but  for  the  liberal  and  munifi 
cent  appropriation  of  money  made  by  the  state  at  that 
time,  in  aid  of  colonization,  the  present  condition  of  that 
state  would  have  been,  in  regard  to  one  item  of  its  inter 
nal  affairs,  an  item  more  intricate  and  difficult  to  man 
age  than  any  and  all  others,  in  a  most  deplorable  condi 
tion.  The  funds  of  the  American,  or  parent  institution, 
were  found  to  be  utterly  inadequate  to  send  off  to  their 
colony,  the  numerous  applicants  for  admission  into  it, 
from  other  states.  And  that  portion  of  the  population  of 
Maryland,  whose  best  interests  are  intended  to  be  pro 
moted  by  colonization,  were,  and  still  are,  rapidly  increas 
ing.  Old  prejudices,  with  all  their  long  established  habits, 
both  in  Europe  and  America,  are  bending,  yielding,  and 
falling  before  the  lights  and  the  improvements  of  the  pre 
sent  century. 


245 

In  1790,  there  were  but  about  8,500  free  coloured 
persons  in  that  state.  In  1830,  there  were  upwards  of 
53,000.  Hence  the  political  necessity,  both  as  it  regard 
ed  them,  and  the  white  population  of  the  state,  of  some 
definite  plan  upon  which  they  could,  or  might  be  provi 
ded  for,  and  placed  in  a  condition  of  comfort,  safety,  and 
independence — colonization  was,  and  still  is,  that  plan, 
and  it  is  the  only  practicable  plan.  The  adoption  of  this 
plan  by  the  general  assembly  of  Maryland  in  1831-2,  and 
the  appropriation  then  made  to  render  it  effectual,  has 
placed  the  state  upon  a  pinnacle  of  moral  grandeur  which 
no  lapse  of  time  will  ever  either  undermine  or  efface. 
The  gentlemen  appointed  under  the  act  above  referred  to, 
to  carry  into  effect,  its  most  wise,  salutary,  and  benevo 
lent  provisions,  were  MOSES  SHEPPARD,  CHARLES  HOW 
ARD,  and  CHARLES  CARROLL  HARPER.  "To  eulogise 
their  acts,  under  this  new  relation  to  the  state  and  one  of 
its  most  important  domestic  concerns;  a  relation,  involv 
ing  a  moral  responsibility  to  the  state,  and  to  the  chil 
dren  of  Africa  within  its  limits,  and  to  thn  African  conti 
nent,  forms  no  part  of  the  writer's  purpose.  The  results 
of  their  most  judicious  administration  of,  and  superinten 
dence  over  these  great  interests,  is  the  best  commentary 
upon,  and  commendation  of  their  acts.  The  act  of 
assembly  which  called  them  into  official  existence,  gave 
them  a  *  discretionary  power  to  do  all  and  every  thing 
that  they  might  deem  essential  to  promote  the  welfare  of 
the  persons  to  be  removed  from  the  state,  (with  their  own 
consent,)  to  Liberia,  in  Africa,  or  elsewhere.  Being 
members,  as  the  law  required  them  to  be,  of  the  Mary 
land  State  Colonization  Society,  which  an  act  of  incor 
poration  from  the  state,  almost  simultaneous  with  the  act 
under  which  they  were  appointed,  they  were  thus  happily 
brought  into  close  fellowship  and  alliance  with  the  mem 
bers,  and  board  of  managers  of  that  institution.  What 
has  been  the  result  of  their  joint  operation?  How  have 
they  discharged  the  solemn  obligations  which  they  con 
sented  to  come  under,  without  fee  or  reward  in  money  ? 
Let  facts  answer  these  questions.  In  1H32,  some  twenty 
odd  free  persons  of  colour,  residents  of  the  city  of  Balti 
more,  determined  to  avail  themselves  of  the  privileges 


246 

which  Boyer,  of  Hayti,  had  offered  to  such  persons  of 
colour  of  the  United  States  as  might  be  willing  to  emi 
grate  thither.  They  were  sent :  but  none,  no,  not  one 
has  followed  them,  so  far  as  the  writer  is  informed,  and 
believes.  He  knows  that  none  since  then,  have  been 
sent  by  the  'State's  Board,'  or  by  the  society.  This  no 
member  of  the  board  has  ever  regretted,  political  consid 
erations,  as  well  as  motives  of  kindness  to  the  coloured 
people  themselves,  induced  a  most  ready  acquiescence  in 
this  want  of  disposition  on  their  part  to  settle  in  that 
island. 

"In  the  same  year,  one  hundred  and  fifty,  mostly  from 
the  eastern  shore  of  Maryland,  embarked  at  Baltimore  for 
Monrovia,  the  capital  of  what  is  now  called  the  old  co 
lony — though  as  to  years,  it  is  still  in  its  infancy.  It 
was  then  hoped  by  the  board  of  managers,  and  the  friends 
of  the  cause  throughout  the  state,  that  hundreds  and 
thousands  of  others  would  soon  gladly  follow  them.  But, 
as  though  it  had  been,  (as  it  might,  for  all  the  writer 
knows,)  the  purpose  of  Providence  to  extend  more 
rapidly  along  the  western  coast  of  that  benighted  conti 
nent,  new  settlements,  constituted  of  the  only  class  of 
people  that  could  effectually  root  up  and  destroy  the 
African  slave  trade,  their  hopes  endured  only  for  a  sea 
son.  The  first  intelligence  from  the  Maryland  emigrants, 
to  whom  reference  has  been  made,  was  as  the  knell  of 
death  to  all  these  fondly  cherished  expectations.  At  the 
time  of  their  arrival,  the  colony,  in  consequence  of  an 
extraordinary  accession  of  new  settlers,  many  of  whom 
were  totally  destitute  of  the  slightest  means  of  procuring 
a  livelihood,  was  involved  in  great  distress.  Mercantile 
speculations  and  operations,  by  which  some  few  of  the 
original  settlers  had  become  possessed  of  comparative 
wealth,  had  attracted  the  attention  of  nearly  every  settler 
from  the  soil,  and  the  cultivation  thereof,  to  the  uncer 
tainties  of  trade  and  traffic.  They  were  threatened,  con 
sequently,  with  a  want  of  subsistence.  Food  was  scarce, 
and  many  suffered.  Many  of  those  emigrants  complain 
ed,  not  of  the  climate,  nor  of  the  soil,  for  the  one  was 
genial,  and  the  other  was  rich ;  but  of  the  want  of  the 


247 

necessary  means  to  subsist  upon  during  the  period  of 
their  acclimation.  This  state  of  things,  obviously  dis 
tressing  to  the  emigrants,  and  apparently  well  calculate. i 
to  extinguish  forever  the  spirit  of  emigration,  which  was, 
up  to  the  period  when  this  information  reached  Maryland, 
extensively  progressing  in  many  of  the  counties  of  tin- 
state,  especially  those  on  the  eastern  shore,  was  happily, 
yea,  providentially  made  the  occasion  for  the  introduction 
of  a  new  aspect,  or  principle,  upon  the  system  of  coloni 
zation.  Up  to  this  period,  the  system  was  general,  and 
embraced  in  its  range  all  the  states  and  territories,  who 
were  disposed  to  become  tributary  to  the  furtherance  of 
the  grand  purposes  of  the  scheme.  ,  And  as  all  men  in 
no  one  community,  however  small,  have  ever  yet  thought 
exactly  alike  upon  any  subject  of  general  interest,  it  was 
not  at  all  to  be  wondered  at,  that  the  benevolent  purposes 
of  colonization,  should  be  differently  construed,  in  those 
two  cardinal  sections  of  the  union  indicated  by  the  terms, 
the  north  and  the  south.  The  northern  friends  of  the 
cause,  (acting  honestly  no  doubt,)  under  the  influence 
of  a  strong  and  natural  attachment  to  the  principle  of 
voluntary  labour,  soon  became  extremely  anxious  to  use 
colonization  as  an  engine  to  effect  immediate  and  univer 
sal  change  in  the  whole  domestic. economy  of  the  south — 
carried  away  by  their  ignorance  of  the  subject,  and  un 
willing  to  believe  that  the  southern  friends  of  colonization 
were  sincere  in  their  professions  of  attachment  to  the 
African  race,  because  they  did  not  resolve  to  incorporate 
a  new  direct  object  upon  the  scheme — an  object,  which 
the  original  framers  of  its  constitution  had  left  to  the  col 
lateral  influence  of  the  cause,  and  to  the  moral  sense  of 
the  community,  immediately  and  solely  interested  and 
affected  by  that  portion  of  the  population,  whether  for 
weal  or  for  woe :  many  of  them  drew  off.  Hence  the 
opposition,  from  portions  of  the  north,  to  colonization — 
hence  the  infatuation  in  regard  to  it,  of  many  good  and 
pious  men,  in  that  region.  It  has  been  well  observed  by 
a  distinguished  citizen  and  divine  of  New  England,  who 
is  a  warm  friend  and  powerful  advocate  of  the  system  of 
colonization,  that  cin  these  days  of  ultraism,  if  a  company 
of  good  men  succeed  in  getting  up  a  good  institution, 


248 

even  in  spite  of  the  devil  himself,  he  is  almost  sure  to 
turn  charioteer.'  Colonization,  it  will  be  observed,  by 
this  contrariety  of  sentiment  in  regard  to  the  legitimate 
objects  of  its  action,  is  made  to  be  one  thing  in  the  north, 
while  it  was  another  in  the  south.  A  mutual,  friendly 
concert  of  action  between  these  two  parties,  was  rapidly 
ceasing.  The  foundation  of  the  whole  superstructure, 
being  thus  invaded,  the  edifice  was  in  danger  of  falling. 
Its  fall  would  -have  annihilated  the  hopes  of  the  patriot, 
the  philanthropist,  and  the  Christian,  and  extinguished 
the  only  star  of  hope  for  benighted  and  oppressed  Africa. 
The  free  coloured  people  of  Maryland  and  of  other  south 
ern  states,  and  their  descendants,  would  have  been  left 
to  all  the  hopelessness  and  dreariness  which  attaches  in 
all  countries  to  the  condition  of  a  separate  and  subordi 
nate  caste.  The  'tender  mercies'  of  their  fanatical, 
though  well-meaning  friends  in  the  north  and  in  the  east, 
would  have  produced  in  the  incipient  stages  of  their  ap 
plication,  an  action  which,  by  the  stern  and  unalterable 
law  of  necessity,  would  have  cast  them  loose  from  the 
ties  which  now  connect  them  to  the  protection  of  a  sys 
tem  of  law,  beneficent  and  kind  in  its  operations,  and 
salutary  in  its  provisions,  to  all  the  wretchedness  and 
misery  of  a  proscribed  condition.  But,  under  the  power 
ful  stimulus  of  hope,  aided  by  the  munificent  appropria 
tion  of  the  state,  the  managers  appointed  by  the  society, 
determined  to  present  the  cause  in  such  an  aspect,  as 
could  not  fail  to  secure  the  hearty  consent  and  cordial 
approbation  of  all  the  friends  of  colonization  in  and  out  of 
the  state.  That  aspect  is  'separate  state  action.'  The  la 
bour — the  toil,  the  research,  and  the  trembling  anxiety 
for  its  success,  which  the  managers  submitted  to  and  un 
derwent  in  arranging  this  plan,  so  as  to  guard  it  against 
every  possible  objection,  justly  entitle  them  to  the  highest 
praise.  And  the  success  of  the  plan  will  be  looked  upon 
by  their  descendants  and  posterity,  as  one  among  the 
brightest  incidents  in  the  history  of  the  state,  which  has 
occurred  since  the  establishment  of  our  national  indepen 
dence.  The  plan  having  been  before  the  people  for  years, 
it  is  not  necessary  that  in  this  brief  statement  of  facts,  we 
should  repeat  it  in  detail.  It  has  met  the  most  decided 


249 

approbation  of  the  citizens  of  the  state.  The  coloniza 
tion  societies  of  Pennsylvania  and  New  York  have  adopt 
ed  it ;  and  to  it,  under  the  good  providences  of  Almighty 
God,  and  the  untiring  exertions  of  the  American  Socie 
ty's  secretaries  and  agents,  to  correct  the  erroneous  views 
and  feelings  of  northern  and  eastern  gentlemen,  may  be 
attributed  the  resuscitation  of  the  good  feelings  and  ge 
nerous  contributions  with  which  they  greeted  the  cause 
when  it  was  first  presented  to  their  consideration.  It  is 
but  an  act  of  justice  to  state  in  this  place,  that  the  people 
of  the  state,  and  the  friends  of  the  cause  elsewhere,  are 
especially  indebted  to  John  H.  B.  Latrobe,  Esq.  the  cor 
responding  secretary  of  the  Maryland  Colonization  So 
ciety,  for  this  judicious  system  of  separate  state  action. 
His  devotion  to  this  great  work  of  improvement,  and  his 
untiring  efforts  to  make  it  the  instrumental  cause  of  Afri 
ca's  regeneration,  justly  entitle  him  to  a  high  rank  among 
the  best  and  most  devoted  friends  of  that  benighted 
people. 

"In  December,  1833,  the  first  expedition  was  des 
patched,  with  but  a  handful  of  emigrants,  under  the  gui 
dance  and  direction  of  Dr.  James  Hall,  with  whom  was 
associated  the  Rev.  John  Hersey,  to  found  on  the  coast 
of  Africa,  if  possible  at  Cape  Palmas,  a  new  colony  for 
the  benefit  of  the  free  coloured  people  of  Maryland,  and 
such  of  their  own  colour,  as  might  from  time  to  time  be 
come  free.  The  hopes  and  the  fears  which  alternately 
agitated  the  feelings  of  the  managers  of  the  two  boards, 
can  only  be  justly  conceived  of,  by  those  who  were  privy 
to  them  at  the  time.  But,  relying  upon  the  justness— 
the  propriety,  the  necessity,  and  the  benevolence  of  the 
enterprise,  they  piously  committed  it  in  humble  prayer, 
to  the  guidance  and  direction  of  that  benign  Being,  who 
had  said  centuries  before,  Hhen  Ethiopia  shall  stretch 
forth  her  hands  unto  God.'  It  should  be  mentioned  here, 
as  a  tribute  of  respect  to  the  memory  of  the  then  presi 
dent  of  the  society,  the  late  George  Hoffman,  Esq.  whose 
contributions  in  aid  of  the  cause  were  always  free  and 
liberal,  that  after  signing  the  instructions  which  had  been 
written  out  for  the  government  and  direction  of  Dr.  Hall, 
he  addressed  the  board  of  managers,  and  said,  'Now, 
22 


250 

gentlemen,  we  have  done  all  that  we  can  do  to  insure 
the  success  of  this  great  undertaking,  and  may  the  bless 
ing  of  Almighty  God  follow  what  we  have  done.7  This 
sudden  heart-felt  appeal  produced  a  sensation  at  the 
board,  which  induced  every  member  present,  to  say, 
Amen!  The  success  of  this  expedition  fully  realized 
the  expectations  of  its  most  ardent  friends,  and  greatly 
increased  the  confidence  of  others  in  the  wisdom  and 
foresight  of  its  projectors. 

"The  announcement  of  his  success,  by  Dr.  Hall,  was 
accompanied  with  two  young  native  African  boys,  one 
the  son  of  King  WEAK  BORLEO,  and  the  other  of  King 
PARFLEUR.  Their  parents  were  anxious  to  have  them 
instructed  in  an  English  education,  and  as  a  token  of 
their  confidence  in  the  integrity  of  the  managers  of  colo 
nization,  sent  them  to  their  care.  This  instance  of  confi 
dence,  under  all  the  circumstances  of  the  case,  is  without 
a  parallel  in  the  history  of  ages ;  and  should  be  looked 
upon  as  conclusive  proof  of  the  desire,  so  frequently 
ascribed  to  that  people,  of  emerging  from  their  ignorance 
and  barbarism.  The  territory  thus  happily  secured,  and 
which  was  supposed  to  contain  within  its  limits,  some 
thing  like  500,000  acres  of  land,  wras  called  Maryland 
in  Liberia — and  the  first  town  established  therein,  at 
Cape  Palmas,  was  called  HARPER,  after  the  late  General 
Robert  Goodloe  Harper,  of  Maryland,  who  gave  the 
cause  of  colonization  at  an  early  period  of  its  existence, 
the  weight  and  influence  of  his  name,  money,  and  elo 
quence.  A  recent  publication  under  the  editorial  head 
of  the  Baltimore  American,  is  so  replete  with  information, 
shewing  the  progress  of  the  colony  and  its  happy  moral 
influence  over  the  surrounding  native  tribes,  that  we  are 
constrained  to  connect  it  with  this  brief  statement  of  facts: 
"MARYLAND  IN  LIBERIA. 

"We  invite  the  attention  of  our  readers  to  the  letter, 
which  we  publish  below,  in  reference  to  the  present  con 
dition  of  this  interesting  colony.  The  intelligence  here 
tofore  received  of  it  has  always  been  satisfactory,  and 
the  opinion  of  Mr.  Burt,  who  certainly  appears  to  have 
been  a  disinterested  witness,  and  who  corroborates  his 


251 

views  by  the  facts  which  he  states,  fully  confirms  us  in 
the  belief  that  its  establishment  has  been  one  of  the  most 
fortunate  circumstances  connected  with  the  colonization 
cause.  It  would  be  unjust  not  to  remark,  that  the  pros- 
penty  of  the  colony  reflects  the  highest  credit  upon  the 
board  of  managers  of  the  State  Colonization  Society, 
who,  as  well  in  the  choice  of  a  location  on  the  coast  of 
Africa,  as  in  the  adoption  of  a  proper  system  for  the 
government  of  the  settlement,  have  exercised  so  sound  a 
judgment.  It  gives  us  great  pleasure  to  add,  that  des 
patches  have  been  received,  in  which  the  condition  of 
the  colony  is  stated  to  be  highly  prosperous.  Dr.  Hall 
had  just  returned  from  a  most  interesting  tour  up  the  Ca 
vally  river,  from  the  mouth  of  the  falls,  a  distance  of 
sixty  miles,  and  had  reached  the  mountain  range,  which 
here  runs  parallel  to  the  coast.  He  describes  the  Cavally 
as  a  noble  stream,  navigable  for  vessels  drawing  twelve 
feet  water,  at  all  seasons,  as  high  up  as  the  cataract  at 
Fave.  Numerous  villages  and  some  large  towns  are 
found  at  intervals  on  either  bank.  With  the  kings  of 
two  of  these.  Dr.  Hall  made  treaties,  by  which  large 
tracts  of  territory  wrere  ceded  to  the  state  society ;  the 
consideration  being,  besides  the  trifling  present  made  at 
the  palaver,  the  advantages  which  the  kings  would  derive 
from  the  establishment  of  schools  for  their  people,  and 
the  introduction  of  the  arts  of  civilized  life.  A  treaty 
was  also  made  with  the  king  of  the  Yeabreh  people  for 
the  Bulyemah  country,  which  gives  the  State  Society 
the  possession  of  both  banks  of  the  Cavally  for  some 
miles  above  its  mouth.  The  king  of  Half  Cavally,  who 
had  refused  to  sell  to  the  society,  when  the  colony  was 
founded,  and  whose  territory,  lying  like  a  wedge  in  the 
midst  of  the  society's  possessions,  was  a  constant  source 
of  anxiety,  lest  it  should  be  sold  to  foreigners,  who  would 
establish  a  factory,  where  a  traffic  in  ardent  spirits,  pro 
hibited  in  Maryland  in  Liberia,  would  be  carried  on, — 
this  king  has  now  followed  the  example  of  his  neigh 
bours,  and  ceded  his  lands.  The  policy  of  the  State 
Society  being  to  raise  the  natives  to  the  standard  of  the 
colonists,  with  a  view  to  their  amalgamation  as  one  peo- 


252 

pie,  and  not  to  drive  them  from  their  homes,  the  various 
treaties  that  have  been  made  leave  to  them  their  im 
proved  lands  and  possessions,  but  being  all  under  the 
control  of  the  governor  of  Maryland  in  Liberia.  The 
extent  of  territory  recently  acquired,  is  about  five  hun 
dred  square  miles.  In  the  Bulyemah  country,  a  part  of 
the  new  cession,  is  the  oracle  of  the  region  of  country  for 
six  hundred  miles  up  and  down  the  coast.  Dr.  Hall 
visited  the  spot,  and  found  it  to  be  a  large  rock,  from 
which,  by  means  of  a  rude  ventriloquism,  possessed  by 
the  attendant  priest,  a  sound  was  made  to  appear  to  pro 
ceed,  which  the  priest  interpreted  ad  libitum.  To  the 
ignorant  natives,  the  rock,  situated  in  a  wild  country, 
seems  invested  with  intelligence,  and  hence  its  sanctity. 
Delphos  lives  again  in  Bulyemah.  The  influence  of  the 
reputation  of  the  colony  and  its  able  governor,  was 
strongly  proved  on  the  visit  up  the  Cavally.  The  bro 
ther  of  the  king  of  Haidee  died  on  the  night  of  Dr. 
Hall's  arrival  in  the  chief  town  of  the  territory,  and  one 
of  the  natives  was  next  day  sentenced  to  undergo  the 
trial  by  poison,  on  suspicion  of  being  the  cause  of  his 
death.  Through  the  exertions  of  Dr.  Hall,  however,  he 
was  saved  from  the  trial,  and  this,  notwithstanding  the 
high  rank  of  the  supposed  victim,  the  power  of  the  king, 
and  the  passions  and  prejudices  of  the  people. 

Extract  of  a  letter  from  Wm.  Floyd  Burt,  supercargo  of  the  Brig 
Eliza,,  of  New  York,  to  a  friend  in  that  city. 

"DEAR :  When  you  became  aware  of  my  intention 

to  visit  the  western  coast  of  Africa,  you  partly  wrung 
from  me  a  promise  that  in  case  my  other  engagements 
would  permit,  I  would  note  particularly  the  state  of  the 
American  colonies  established  here,  as  you  would  put 
confidence  in  my  remarks  concerning  them.  I  then  in 
formed  you,  that  being  neither  abolitionist  nor  coloniza- 
tionist,  I,  of  course,  should  be  an  impartial  observer,  but 
as  my  object  in  visiting  the  coast  would  be  strictly  com 
mercial,  I  should  probably  have  little  leisure  to  attend  to 
other  business  than  my  own.  I  will  however,  make  a 
few  observations  merely  to  convince  you  that  I  have  not 


253 

been  unmindful  of  your  request;  and  at  the  same  time 
confess  that  I  feel  an  interest  in  the  affair,  which  a  half 
dozen  colonization  meetings  could  never  have  awakened. 
No  intoxicating  drink  is  permitted  to  be  used  by  the  colo 
nists  or  for  native  trade.  Being  but  little  acquainted  with 
new  settlements,  you  may  not  place  much  confidence  in 
my  judgment,  but  {  doubt  much  if  any  town  in  our  western 
country  has  made  equal  progress  with  this  in  the  same 
length  of  time,  with  the  expenditure  of  twice  the  amount 
of  capital.  But  to  confine  'myself  to  facts.  This  village, 
now  eighteen  months  old,  contains  twenty-three  frame 
dwelling-houses  of  one  and  two  stories;  one  two  story 
stone  house,  and  commodious  frame  weather  boarded  and 
thatched  meeting-house,  independent  of  the  agency  build 
ings,  which  are  a  fine  two  story  residence  for  the  gover 
nor,  suitable  out-houses,  and  a  large  forty  feet  two  story 
stone  warehouse,  handsomely  finished  on  the  inside,  which 
would  do  honour  to  any  of  our  wharves.  There  are 
three  well  constructed  receptacles  for  emigrants;  two  of 
seventy-five  feet  each  in  length,  and  one  of  one  hundred 
and  twenty  feet.  The  latter  stands  on  the  public  farm, 
about  half  a  mile  from  the  village,  on  which  are  also 
being  erected  a  two  story  dwelling  for  the  farming  agent, 
and  a  strong  jail.  On  the  farm  lands,  about  one  and  a 
half  miles  from  Harper,  are  nine  dwelling-houses,  occu 
pied  by  late  emigrants,  and  I  should  judge  that  there  are 
fifty  acres  of  land  under  good  cultivation,  which  in  a 
short  time  will  supplv  a  sufficiency  of  vegetable  food  for 
the  whole  colony.  When  I  have  said  this,  it  will  be 
unnecessary  to  add  that  the  people  are  enterprising  and 
industrious,"  and  the  affairs  of  the  colony  well  conducted. 
There  are  two  schools  in  the  colony,  which  are  attended 
both  by  colonists  and  natives,  and  I  am  informed  that 
they  both  make  rapid  progress.  That  the  natives  lack 
not  zeal  in  the  matter,  I  am  well  assured,  from  seeing 
men  of  twenty  and  thirty  years  of  age,  with  their  slate 
and  cards  conning  their  alphabet.  There  is  a  missionary 
establishment  here  under  the  care  of  the  Rev.  Mr.  Wilson,* 
who  together  with  his  lady,  appear  to  be  admirably  well 

*The  Protestant  and  Methodist  Episcopal  Churches  now  have  missionaries 
there. 

22* 


254 

adapted  by  their  conciliatory  manners  to  win  the  affec 
tions  of  the  natives,  which  is  indispensable  in  order  to 
effect  any  change  in  their  character.  They  both  appa 
rently  enjoy  excellent  health,  having  become  quite  natu 
ralized,  although  not  a  year  has  elapsed  since  they  landed. 
The  natives,  although  reported  to  have  been  heretofore 
the  most  dangerous  this  side  of  St.  Andrew's  bay,  are 
now  perfectly  friendly  and  peaceable,  and  look  up  to  the 
governor  of  the  colony  as  a  father.  The  king  made  us 
a  visit  on  board,  dressed  in  a  shirt,  pantaloons,  and  a  New 
York  cut  black  coat,  surmounted  by  two  tarnished 
epaulettes,  a  tri-cocked  hat  and  long  red  plume.  The  na 
tural  advantages  of  Cape  Palmas  are  greater  than  those 
of  any  other  point  of  the  coast.  The  anchorage  and 
landing  is  decidedly  the  best  I  have  seen ;  and  although 
it  has  little  trade  now,  except  palm  oil,  yet  from  its  situ 
ation,  being  the  connecting  point  between  the  windward 
and  leeward  coasts,  it  must  one  day  command  the  main 
trade  of  both  ;  and  become  a  depot  for  immense  quanti 
ties  of  merchandise  to  be  distributed  by  small  colonial 
crafts,  from  one  to  two  hundred  miles  each  way.  If  this 
slight  sketch  will  afford  you  any  satisfaction,  I  shall  be 
amply  repaid  for  the  communication,  for  I  assure  you  I 
have  derived  no  little  pleasure  from  acquainting  myself 
thoroughly  with  so  beautiful  a  colony  in  this  land  of  igno 
rance  and  barbarism.  Of  the  matter  herein  contained, 
you  may  make  what  use  you  see  proper." 

What  delightful  emotions  must  swell  the  heart  of  the 
Christian  philosopher,  and  of  the  philanthropist,  when 
they  look  over  this  broad,  rich  and  luxuriant  field  of  suc 
cessful  experiment,  which  is  now  enlightening,  blessing, 
and  saving  the  African  race  ?  How  great,  how  mighty 
the  changes  which  have  been  effected  on  the  western 
coast  of  that  darkened  continent,  within  a  few  short 
years?  Heretofore,  for  centuries,  up  to  1820,  the  whole 
of  that  vast  coast,  with  the  exception  of  the  little  verdant 
spot  of  Sierra  Leone,  was  one  dreary,  dark,  and  moral 
waste.  The  native  tribes  thereof,  driven  by  the  sad  ne 
cessity  of  circumstances,  were  in  almost  constant  war 
with  each  other,  in  order  to  secure  captives  to  meet  the 
increasing  demand  for  slave  labour  in  the  West  Indies 


255 

and  in  other  places.  The  common  ties  of  humanity,  and 
the  sacred  bonds  of  consanguinity,  were  all  torn  asunder, 
and  the  coast  was  one  wide-spread  scene,  (with  the  ex 
ception  already  made,)  of  deep  moral  degradation,  and 
unnatural  alienation.  Colonization,  like  the  star  in  the 
east,  which  led  the  Magi  of  Egypt,  from  the  deep  reces 
ses  of  their  solitude,  by  a  way  which  they  knew  not,  to 
the  ancient  city  of  Bethlehem,  in  the  land  of  Judea,  the 
birth-place  of  the  Redeemer  of  mankind,  is  now  most 
happily  and  effectually  drawing  the  native  African  race 
to  behold  in  the  persons,  and  the  conduct,  the  arts  and 
the  religion  of  the  children  of  their  exiled  fathers,  the 
influence  of  that  religion,  whose  unvarying  accents  from 
the  beginning,  have  been,  and  still  are,  'peace  on  earth 
and  good  will  to  man.'  Colonization  is  gradually  unfold 
ing  and  explaining  the  deep  mysteries  of  Providence,  in 
regard  to  that  long  afflicted  and  degraded  portion  of  the 
human  race.  The  clouds  of  thick  darkness,  which  have 
so  long  hung  over  them,  are  gradually  passing  away. 
And  the  reasons,  which  made  it  necessary  that  they 
should  be  'scattered  and  peeled  and  trodden/  under 
foot  for  a  season,  are  becoming  plainer  and  more 
clear,  every  revolving  year.  Like  the  ancient  Jews, 
who  departed  from  the  worship  of  God  to  the  ac 
knowledgment  and  adoration  of  dumb  idols,  and  who 
were  scourged  by  repeated  captivities  in  foreign  lands, 
and  who  were  only  cured  of  their  idolatry,  by  their  last 
captivity  and  servitude  in  Babylon  ; — the  native  African 
race,  having  also  departed  from  the  worship  and  adora 
tion  of  the  true  God  and  only  saviour,  Jesus  Christ,  were, 
as  it  would  seem,  temporarily  abandoned  to  their  own 
lusts,  while  multitudes  of  them  were  permitted  to  be  torn 
from  their  homes,  and  brought  to  this  continent  and  the 
islands  thereof,  where  they  have  been  learning,  especially 
within  the  limits  of  the  United  States,  from  generation  to 
generation,  the  language,  the  arts,  the  civilization  and 
religion  of  freemen,  and  the  nature  and  genius  of  repub 
lican  governments. 

Should  we  contrast  their  past  and  present  condition  in 
this  country,  farther  than  already  done,  with  the  condi 
tion  of  their  less  enlightened,  barbarous  and  enslaved 


256 

brethren  in  their  "fatherland,"  what  enlightened  Christian 
would  not  say<  although  it  was  a  personal,  deep,  and 
awfully  aggravated  crime  in  those  who  originated  and 
first  engaged  in  the  traffic,  that  their  condition  is  never 
theless  better  than  it  would  have  been  at  home.  It  was 
truly  a  wicked,  unnatural,  and  savage  act  on  the  part  of 
Joseph's  brethren,  when  they,  through  envy,  unanimously 
agreed  to  sell  him  a  slave  to  the  merchants  of  Egypt. 
But  that  act,  wicked  and  abominable  as  it  was,  was  over 
ruled  by  a  kind,  merciful  and  benignant  Providence,  for 
their  temporal  salvation.  The  history  of  that  case,  has 
been  too  much  overlooked.  Under  the  influence  of  local 
circumstances,  and  of  local  prejudices,  good  meaning 
men,  have  entirely  forgotten,  or  have  looked  away  from 
the  delightful  and  precious  doctrine  of  an  over-ruling, 
controlling  and  determining  Providence,  which  is  beau 
tifully  illustrated,  in  or  by  the  case  of  Joseph.  Some 
years  after  he  had  been  sold,  his  father  and  his  brethren 
were  upon  the  eve  of  perishing  by  famine.  They  (his 
brethren)  must  go  down  into  Egypt  to  buy  corn.  When 
they  first  came  into  the  presence  of  Egypt's  governor, 
Joseph,  their  own  brother,  although  they  knew  him  not, 
yet  he  knew  them  well.  For  a  time  he  kept  his  feelings 
in  his  own  heart.  But  when  he  could  no  longer  refrain 
the  mighty  gush  of  brotherly  affection,  which  had  been 
pent  up  in  his  heart  so  long,  even  from  the  first  moment 
that  he  saw  them,  he  cried  out,  in  the  midst  of  all  his 
courtiers  and  attendants,  "Cause  every  man  to  go  out 
from  me — and  there  stood  no  man  with  him  while  Joseph 
made  himself  known  to  his  brethren — and  he  wept  aloud, 
and  the  Egyptians  and  the  house  of  Pharaoh  heard — and 
Joseph  said  unto  his  brethren,  I  am  Joseph — doth  my  fa 
ther  yet  live? — and  his  brethren  could  not  answer  him, 
for  they  were  troubled  at  his  presence — and  Joseph  said, 
Come  near  to  me,  I  pray  you — and  they  came  near,  and 
he  said,  I  am  Joseph,  your  brother,  whom  ye  sold  into 
Egypt;  now  therefore  be  not  grieved  nor  angry  with 
yourselves,  for  God  did  send  me  before  you  to  preserve 
life." 

It   is   intended   to    show  by  this   pathetic   quotation, 
that  the  African  race  upon  their  exit  from  this  country, 


257 

enlightened  and  ready  to  spread  that  light  which  here 
they  have  received — the  knowledge  of  God  and  his 
religion— can  go  back  to  their  fatherland,  (many  of  them 
have  gone — more  are  ready  to  go,)  and  carry  with  them 
a  portion  of  the  bread  of  life.  This  fact  alone,  clearly 
demonstrates  to  all,  except  the  wilfully  blind  and  fanati 
cal,  that  their  sojournment  here,  has  been  a  blessing  to 
themselves,  and  is  being  made  an  everlasting  blessing  to 
the  children  of  their  ancestors,  by  the  over-ruling  provi 
dence  of  the  living  God.  If  this  condensed  view  of  the 
subject  be  a  true  one,  (and  the  facts  in  regard  to  coloni 
zation  and  its  effects,  cannot  be  disputed,)  is  it  not  quite 
clear,  even  as  plain  as  day,  that  those  who  have  attempted 
to  substitute  immediate  and  universal  emancipation,  for 
colonization,  are  the  worst  enemies  of  the  whole  African 
race'  Their  plan,  even  if,  by  any  possible  means,  it 
could  be  made  practicable,  without  subverting  the  do 
mestic  economy,  for  the  time  being,  of  the  southern  states, 
would  rob  Africa  of  the  only  means  by  which  she  can 
be  recovered  from  the  ignorance  and  barbarism  which 
she  has  suffered  for  ages  past. 

Colonization  has  already  done  for  Maryland,  Virginia, 
and  the  South,  more  than  the  worth  of  a  million  of  dol 
lars.  It  has  secured  on  the  coast  of  Africa,  a  territory 
more  than  sufficient  for  her  free  coloured  population,  as 
numerous  as  they  are,  and  for  all  that  may  hereafter, 
from  time  to  time  become  free,  for  an  age  to  come.  It 
has  established  governments  upon  the  principles  of  en 
lightened  republicanism,  which  are  now  challenging  the 
admiration,  and  commanding  the  confidence  and  the  af 
fections  of  the  native  tribes  within  the  sphere  of  their 
operations.  It  has  been  the  faithful  and  true  John  the 
Baptist,  of  the  states,  for  it  has  prepared  the  way  for  a 
full,  free  and  generous  action,  in  favour  of  that  portion 
of  our  population,  whose  claims  for  protection  are  sanc 
tioned  by  the  holiest  attributes  of  our  nature.  It  has 
prepared  the  way  for  any  future  legislation  for  them, 
which  circumstances  may  imperiously  demand.  Coloni 
zation  has  erected  a  bulwark  upon  the  broadest,  firmest, 
and  most  immovable  basis,  and  presents  a  shield  of  pro 
tection  against  the  fiery  and  fanatical  doctrines  of  north- 


258 

ern  agitators,  and  will,  in  all  future  time,  preserve  the 
peace,  and  secure  the  happiness  of  our  domestic  relations. 
It  has  done  all  this,  at  a  cost  so  trifling,  so  utterly  insig 
nificant,  when  contrasted  with  the  extent  of  the  territory 
secured,  the  governments  established,  the  emigrants*  sent 
from  the  states,  and  their  own  independence,  and  the 
benefits  they  are  conferring  upon  the  nations  around  them, 
as  to  be  scarcely  worth  naming. 

How  different  is  this  result  from  the  predictions  of 
many  in  1817.  Then  it  was  alleged,  "no  territory  can 
be  secured  on  the  African  coast— no  free  coloured  man 
will  ever  voluntarily  leave  the  United  States  for  Africa ; 
and  the  expense,  even  if  these  difficulties  were  out  of  the 
way,  is  too  enormous — millions  by  millions  will  not  pro 
duce  an  adequate  sum."  Pursuing  the  even  tenor  of  their 
way,  the  friends  of  the  cause  have  given  a  practical  de 
monstration  of  these  errors.  They  have  established  inde 
pendent  colonies,  and  there  are  now  within  their  limits, 
thousands  of  citizens,  who  were  once  hewers  of  wood 
and  drawers  of  water  in  the  United  States.  For  twenty- 
five  years  many  of  the  northern  as  well  as  southern  states 
have  been  actively,  though  feebly,  engaged  in  advancing 
this  good  plan  of  colonization,  thus  originated  by  the 
fathers  of  our  country,  and  thus  carried  out  by  our  wisest 
and  greatest  statesmen.  Abolitionism  alone  has  acted 
as  a  deadly  sirocco,  to  blast  their  efforts  and  prevent  that 
good  intended  to  the  coloured  race.  Kentucky,  Tennes 
see,  the  Carolinas,  Georgia,  Louisiana,  and  little  Missis 
sippi,  stimulated  by  the  example  of  Virginia  and  Maryland, 
indeed  all  the  slave-holding  states,  have  engaged  actively 
in  this  good  cause  of  colonization.  It  is  just,  it  is  right 
and  honourable  to  say,  that  the  untiring  efforts  of  the 
colonization  societies  of  the  non-slave-holding  states,  have 
evinced  also  their  undissembled  attachment  to  this  union. 
Thousands  of  dollars  have  been  collected — thousands  of 
coloured  men  and  their  families  have  gone  to  Africa. 
Tov/ns,  forts,  farms,  churches,  mills,  stores,  have  risen 
up  as  by  magic.  Never  did  colonies  prosper  as  have 
those  in  Africa.  The  gospel  is  now  preached  by  scores 

*  Thousands  of  free  persons  of  colour  have  been  sent  to  Liberia,  since  the 
formation  of  the  society. 


259 

of  coloured  ministers  and  white  missionaries  to  the  colo 
nists   and    natives.      African   chiefs,  their  families    and 
people,  have   turned   to   the  Lord  Jesus — Ethiopia  has 
stretched   forth  her  hands  to  God.     He  has  heard  her 
cry  and  the  voice  of  salvation  is  in  the  African  taberna 
cle.     The  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  have  a  regularly 
established  conference  in  Africa,  of  at  least  twenty  mi 
nisters,   and    several   hundred   church    members.      The 
Baptists  have  a  large  association,  nearly  equal  to  them. 
The  Protestant  Episcopalians  and  Presbyterians  are  doing 
wonders  in   Maryland,  Liberia.     The  self-denying  Mr. 
Wilson,  the  Presbyterian  minister  at  Cape  Palmas,  his 
amiable,  pious  and  accomplished  consort,  and  the  excel 
lent   and  pious  Dr.  Savage,  and  his  companions  of  the 
Protestant  Episcopal  Church,  are  causing  under  God,  the 
desert  to  blossom  as  a  rose.     We  have  ourself  received 
letters  from  some  of  the  colonists,  and  some  of  the  mis 
sionaries,  with  whom  we  are  personally  acquainted.    We 
are  able  to  say,  that  in  our  humble  opinion,  but  for  the 
interference  of  abolitionists,  at  this  moment,  where  there 
is  one  coloured  man,  a  colonist  in  Liberia,  there  would 
have  been  one  hundred.      Thousands  of  free  coloured 
men  and  their  families  have  been  deterred  from  removing 
thither,  by  abolition  efforts,  and  the  untoward  misrepre 
sentations  of  those  contentious  fanatics. 

We  will  not  here  set  down  what  we  could  collect  and 
say  of  those  disinterested  and  benevolent  efforts  made  by 
New  York,  Pennsylvania,  the  New  England,  and  other 
non-slave-holding  states,  to  advance  the  cause  of  coloni 
zation.  The  Protestant  Episcopal,  the  Presbyterian,  the 
Baptist  and  Methodist  Churches,  have  all,  as  one  body, 
united  to  advance  the  same,  because  by  the  removal  of 
the  free  coloured  race,  they  actually  civilize  and  save 
Africa,  and  restore  the  free  coloured  man  to  the  enjoy 
ment  of  freedom  in  his  proper  home.  Thus,  whilst  by 
the  removal  of  these,  they  better  the  condition  of  the 
slave,  they  encourage  masters  and  mistresses  to  let  their 
servants  voluntarily  go  free,  as  a  suitable  home  is  pro 
vided  for  them,  and  they  also  encourage  the  slave  to  do 
well,  under  expectation  that  his  master  will  ultimately 
send  him  or  his  posterity  to  his  fatherland,  there  to  be 


260 

raised  to  the 'dignity  of  a  freeman.  At  a  time  when  a 
rupture  was  absolutely  about  to  take  place  in  the  Metho 
dist  Episcopal  Church,  in  consequence  of  northern  aboli 
tion  efforts,  many  northern  men  threw  themselves  in  the 
breach  and  resisted  these  efforts.  The  lamented  Fisk, 
old  Bishop  Redding,  Dr.  Bangs,  and  others,  stood  up  for 
the  cause  of  our  union  and  our  country,  and  no  man  ever 
wrote  on  this  subject,  to  more  direct  and  immediate  effect, 
than  did  Dr.  David  M.  Reese,  of  New  York.  The  New 
York  Methodist  Annual  Conference  breasted  the  torrent, 
and  let  its  ministers  and  their  members,  and  the  world 
know,  that  on  this  subject  the  Methodists  wrould  and 
should  be  one.  Many  ministers  and  members  of  the 
Baltimore  Annual  Conference,  with  the  much  lamented 
Bishop  Emory  at  their  head,  as  we  have  reason  to  know, 
came  out  and  denounced  abolitionism  in  the  following, 
which  we  copy  from  the  Baltimore  American,  as  pub 
lished  by  them. 

"BALTIMORE,  August  20th.,  1835. 

**The  undersigned  ministers,  within  the  Baltimore  Annual  Con 
ference  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  respectfully  request 
those  individuals  north  of  us  who  are  agitating  the  question  of 
immediate  abolition,  to  desist  from  sending  to  any  of  us  their  in 
flammatory  periodicals,  or  other  publications  on  that  subject,  as 
we  never  ordered  or  desired  them,  and  are  determined  to  have 
nothing  to  do  with  any  of  them,  of  which  we  request  all  postmas 
ters  to  take  notice.  We  beg  leave  to  assure  them  also,  that  though 
we  are  neither  slaveholders  nor  the  friends  of  slavery,  yet  that,  in 
our  judgment,  the  rash  and  violent  course  they  are  pursuing,  in 
conjunction  with  foreign  emissaries,  is  doing  immense  mischief  in 
all  our  southern  country,  and  is  especially  calculated  and  tending 
to  overwhelm  our  coloured  population,  both  bond  and  free,  with 
greatly  aggravated  afflictions  and  dangers,  both  temporal  and  spi 
ritual,  and  to  embroil  the  country  in  disgraceful  and  murderous 
riots.  It  is  well  known  that  the  Baltimore  Annual  Conference 
has  always  taken,  and  still  takes,  a  decided  stand  in  favour  of  gra 
dual  and  ultimate  emancipation ;  yet  so  far  as  we  know,  the  sen 
timents  herein  expressed  are  those  of  our  brethren  generally  in 
this  section,  in  regard  to  the  interference  of  foreign  agitators,  in 
this  most  delicate  and  embarrassing  of  all  our  domestic  difficulties." 

We  repeat  we  have  reason  to  know  something  of  this 
paper,  for  Dr.  Emory  drew  it  up,  and  it  was  published 
from  a  copy  of  our  own  making  as  above.  Among 


261 

others,  maintaining  the  cause  of  the  south,  we  find  the 
talented  Mr.  Paulding,  late  secretary  of  the  navy.  When 
we  turn  to  the  southern  states,  notwithstanding  the  slurs, 
persecutions  and  inconsiderate  efforts  of  these  rash  fana 
tics,  we  behold  them  cooly  at  work,  using  their  efforts 
to  advance  the  interests  of  the  coloured  race,  by  uniting 
in  the  scheme  of  colonization,  which  is  so  well  calculated 
to  effect  its  permanent  welfare.  By  a  reference  to  the 
African  Repository  and  Colonial  Journal,  we  find  Ken 
tucky,  Tennessee,  Alabama,  Mississippi,  Louisiana,  Mis 
souri,  and  Arkansas,  among  the  new  states  pressing  on 
this  great  work.  We  wish  we  had  space  for  those  quo 
tations  which  would  show  the  sums  raised,  the  work 
done,  and  the  number  of  coloured  persons  sent  by  them 
to  Africa.  Among  the  old  states  we  find  Georgia,  North 
and  South  Carolina,  as  well  as  Maryland  and  Virginia, 
putting  the  shoulder  to  the  wheel,  and  seeking,  notwith 
standing  abolitionism,  to  send  the  coloured  man  out  full, 
to  the  land  of  Ham,  the  land  of  his  fathers,  ato  bless,  to 
till,"  and  enjoy  the  fruits  thereof.  We  would  like  to  in 
sert,  in  extenso,  a  report  of  the  doings  of  all  the  slave- 
holding  states  on  the  subject  of  colonization.  This  we 
cannot  do.  We  must  not,  however,  forego  that  pleasure 
which  it  gives  us  to  record  here  some  of  the  proceedings 
and  speeches  at  a  late  meeting  of  the  Colonization  So 
ciety  of  Virginia,  held  in  its  capitol.  The  report  is  one 
among  the  most  interesting  we  have  ever  read.  It  gives 
a  succinct  account  of  every  important  point  connected 
with  colonization,  and  contains,  among  other  interesting 
things,  a  speech  delivered  by  President  TYLER, — then 
the  president  of  the  society, — a  speech  from  Gen.  BAI 
LEY,  of  Accomac,  one  from  Mr.  RIVES,  of  Albemarle, 
one  from  Mr.  MAXWELL,  of  Norfolk,  and  one  from  Mr. 
WISE,  of  U.  S.  Congress.  These  speeches  could  not  be 
curtailed  without  material  injury  to  the  cause  :  and  as  they 
set  forth  the  true  principles  of  our  fathers  and  the  south  on 
this  subject,  we  give  them  as  a  whole,  happy  to  have  at 
hand  something  so  well  calculated  to  subserve  that  cause, 
which  we  believe  to  be  the  one,  and  only  one,  on  which 
the  entire  south  ought  to  unite.  We  mean  colonization. 


o 
23 


262 

In  concluding  their  report,  the  managers  express  this 
same  opinion. 

"The  hall  of  the  house  of  delegates  was  crowded  to  overflowing, 
at  an  early  hour,  by  an  audience  of  the  first  respectability  and  in 
telligence  in  Richmond.,  including  many  members  of  the  legisla 
ture. 

"The  Hon.  JOHN  TYLER,  president  of  the  society,  upon  taking 
the  chair  delivered  the  following  brief  but  very  striking  inaugural 
address,  which  fully  sustained  his  reputation  as  a  public  speaker. 
He  said  that  he  could  not  permit  this,  the  first  occasion  on  which 
it  had  been  in  his  power  to  attend  a  meeting  of  the  society  since  he 
had  been  elected  its  president,  to  pass  by,  without  expressing  his 
grateful  sense  for  the  honours  conferred  upon  him.  You  have  ap 
pointed  me,  said  he,  the  successor  of  one  whose  name  is  destined 
to  reach  a  remote  posterity — of  one  who,  in  his  private  character 
and  conduct,  furnished  an  exemplification  of  all  the  virtues.  JOHN 
MARSHALL  was  among  us  as  one  of  us — plain,  unostentatious  and 
unassuming,  he  left  us  in  doubt  which  most  to  admire,  his  unaf 
fected  simplicity  of  character,  or  his  extraordinary  talents.  Filling 
the  highest  judicial  station — followed  by  the  admiration  of  his 
countrymen — exerting  an  extensive  influence  by  the  mere  force  of 
his  genius,  over  public  opinion — his  name  familiar  to  the  lips  of 
the  highest  and  most  humble  of  a  people  inhabiting  a  continent,  he 
seemed  alone  to  be  unconscious  of  his  own  exalted  wTorth.  To  be 
appointed  the  successor  of  such  a  man,  however  great  my  own 
unworthiness,  is  an  honour  of  which  I  have  cause  to  be  proud. 
The  very  origin  of  the  Colonization  Society  is,  in  my  memory, 
identified  with  him.  At  its  first  meeting  in  Washington,  curiosity 
led  me  to  be  present ;  notice  had  been  given  through  the  newspa 
pers,  of  the  proposed  meeting  at  Brown's  hotel,  and  I  was  attracted 
thither  by  the  desire  to  hear  what  could  be  said  in  favour  of  a 
scheme  which  I  was  short-sighted  enough  to  regard  as  altogether 
Utopian.  Let  me  frankly  confess  myself — I  did  consider  it  in  its 
incipiency  as  but  a  dream  of  philanthropy,  visiting  men's  pillows 
in  their  sleep,  to  cheat  them  on  their  waking.  Chief  Justice  MAR 
SHALL,  with  some  fifteen  others,  were  present,  but  that  small  num 
ber  exhibited  a  constellation  of  talent.  HENRY  CLAY  presided, 
JOHN  RANDOLPH  addressed  the  meeting,  and  WILLIAM  H.  CRAW 
FORD  was  the  first  president  of  the  Colonization  Society.  Such 
was  the  beginning  of  a  society  which  now  embraces  thousands  of 
the  most  talented  and  patriotic  men  in  the  country.  We  have  been 
peculiarly  fortunate,  gentlemen,  in  having  to  preside  over  our  deli 
berations,  in  this  hall,  one  so  distinguished  for  all  that  can  adorn  a 
man,  as  Chief  Justice  MARSHALL  ;  and  at  the  same  time  the  pri 
vilege  of  acting  in  close  corninmiion  with  another  of  those  men 
fiven  by  God,  in  his  especial  goodness,  as  a  blessing  to  mankind — 
mean  JAMES  MADISON,  so  lately  one  of  our  vice-presidents.  I  am 
not  given  much  to  that  idolatry  which  too  often  puts  fetters  on  the 


263 

mind,  leading  it  to  consecrate  errors  in  opinion,  because  advanced 
and  sustained  by  men  of  exalted  standing.  But  surely  I  may  be 
permitted  to  say.,  that  the  opinions  of  two  such  men  concurring, 
bear  strong  evidence  of  truth.  Their  minds  were  of  too  substantial 
an  order  to  indulge  in  a  mere  vision.  Their  judgments  were  too 
profound  to  have  been  misled  by  the  deceptive  lights  of  a  mistaken 
philanthropy.  While  the  horizon  of  the  future  was  clouded  so 
that  my  own  limited  vision  could  not  penetrate  it,  they  stood,  as 
it  were,  on  a  lofty  mountain's  top,  and  a  beautiful  prospect  was 
presented  to  their  sight.  They  saw  the  first  landing  of  the  pilgrims 
on  the  desert  shores  of  Africa — the  busy  and  the  "thriving  rose  up 
before  their  sight — the  hammer  of  the  artizan  sounded  in  their 
ears — the  hum  of  industry  floated  on  the  breeze — songs  of  praise 
and  thanksgiving  came  over  the  distant  waves — the  genius  of  civi 
lization  had  penetrated  the  Wilderness,  overthrowing  in  its  progress 
the  idol  and  the  altar,  and  rearing  on  the  ruins,  temples  to  the  true 
and  only  God.  All  this  they  saw,  and  all  this  we  now  see.  For  my 
self,  after  learning  the  successful  landing  of  the  first  emigrants,  and 
that  they  were  speedily  to  be  followed  by  others,  all.  my  doubts  va 
nished.  The  reality  was  before  me.  The  seed  was  planted — spring 
time  came  and  it  vegetated — harvest  time  and  the  crop  was  abun 
dant.  But  a  few  years  since  and  no  voice  of  civilization  proceeded 
from  Africa.  Now  thousands  of  civilized  beings  have  made  it 
their  home,  and  the  wilderness  may  be  considered  as  reclaimed. 
The  exhibits  annually  made  to  the  public  of  the  state  and  condi 
tion  of  the  colony,  are  calculated  to  relieve  the  mind  of  all  doubt. 
The  colony  is  planted — advances  with  rapid  strides — and  Monrovia 
will  be  to  Africa  what  Jamestown  and  Plymouth  have  been  to 
America.  Happily  their  success  is  equally  beneficial  to  all  the 
states.  Nothing  sectional  enters  into  it.  The  same  spirit  actuates 
all ;  the  same  policy  governs  all.  The  free  black  man  is  found  in 
Maine  as  well  as  in  Louisiana.  What  then  shall  relard  the  onward 
march  of  this  great  cause  ?  Heretofore  it  has  looked  for  success 
to  private  individuals,  and  to  the  state  legislatures.  My  opinion  is 
that  it  should  still  look  to  them.  To  appeal  to  congress  for  aid,  is 
to  appeal  to  a  body  having  no  power  to  grant  it — a  body  of  restrict 
ed  and  limited  powers,  and  fettered  by  the  terms  of  its  own  crea 
tion.  From  that  source  it  may  get  money,  but  it  will  lose  friends, 
and  friends  are  more  valuable  to  it  than  money.  I  would  not  have 
it  successful  without  the  concurrence  of  the  states.  Our  own  state 
may  be  considered  the  pioneer  in  this  great  work.  On  this  subject 
she' stands  proudly  pre-eminent.  She  will  doubtless  do  her  duty. 
Policy  and  humanity  go  hand  in  hand  in  this  great  work ;  united 
in  the  accomplishment  of  the  same  object,  they  cannot  fail  to  suc 
ceed.  Philanthropy,  when  separated  from  policy,  is  the  most  dan 
gerous  agent  in  human  affairs.  It  is  no  way  distinguishable  from 
fanaticism.  It  hears  not,  sees  not,  understands  not.  It  is  deaf, 
and  hears  not  the  admonitions  of  truth  and  wisdom.  It  is  blind, 
and  walks  over  prostrate  victims,  and  amid  the  ashes  of  desolation, 
without  perceiving  that  its  feet  are  stained  with  blood,  and  that  its 


264 

garments  are  discoloured.  It  understands  not,,  until  the  voice  of 
sorrow  and  lamentation,  proceeding  from  the  sepulchre  of  man's 
fondest  hopes  and  brightest  expectations,,  arouses  it  to  conscious 
ness.  And  is  there  not  a  spirit  of  that  sort  now  at  work  in  our 
own  fair  land?  It  is  the  antagonist  of  that  which  we  cherish.  It 
invades  our  hearths,,  assails  our  domestic  circles,  preaches  up  sedi 
tion  and  encourages  insurrection.  It  would  pull  down  the  pillars 
of  the  constitution,  and  even  now  shakes  them  most  terribly — 
would  violate  the  most  sacred  guarantees — would  attain  its  object 
by  sundering  bonds  which  bind  and  only  have  power  to  bind  these 
states  together :  the  bonds  of  affection  and  brotherly  love.  It  seeks 
to  excite  inextinguishable  prejudices  in  the  minds  of  one -half  of 
our  people  against  the  other  half.  It  acts  in  league  with  foreign 
missionaries,  and  gives  open  countenance  to  the  people  of  another 
hemisphere  to  interfere  in  our  domestic  affairs.  It  is  sectional, 
altogether  sectional ;  in  a  word,  it  is  the  spirit  of  abolition.  From 
this  place  /  denounce  it,  and  this  society  denounces  it.  The  wea 
pons  which  it  uses  are  the  weapons  of  slander  and  abuse — not  as 
to  one  sex  or  condition  of  existence  only,  but  all — all  are  abused 
and  slandered  by  it.  It  labours  to  induce  the  usurpation  of  a  power 
by  government,  which  would  be  attended  by  the  destruction  of  the 
government  itself,  in  the  substitution  (if  a  work  so  disastrous  to 
the  liberties  of  mankind  could  be  effected)  of  a  consolidated  gov 
ernment — a  mere  majority  machine — in  place  of  the  happy  federal 
system  under  which  we  live.  The  opinion  already  prevails  with 
many,  that  the  government  is  a  unit — and  the  people  a  unit !  I 
care  not  from  whence  they  derive  sanction  for  this — but  this  I  will 
say,  that  whether  such  sanction  comes  from  the  living  or  the  dead, 
from  men  in  power,  or  men  out  of  power,  it  is  false  in  theory  and 
destructive  in  practice.  Each  state,  as  to  all  matters  not  ceded  by 
compact,  is  as  SOVEREIGN  as  before  the  adoption  of  the  constitution. 
What  right  then  have  the  people  of  one  state  to  interfere  with  the 
domestic  relations  of  any  other  state? — what  right  to  agitate  in 
order  to  affect  their  neighbours  ?  The  reverend  clergy,  too,  they 
whose  doctrine  should  evermore  be,  peace  on  earth  and  good  will 
to  men,  are  lending  themselves  to  this  pernicious  work.  They 
seek  to  enlist  woman — she  who  was  placed  upon  the  earth,  as  the 
rainbow  in  the  heavens,  as  a  sign  that  the  tempest  of  the  passions 
should  subside.  Woman  is  made  an  instrument  to  expel  us  from 
the  paradise  of  union  in  which  we  dwell.  What  will  satisfy  these 
ministers  of  a  gospel  which  alone  abounds  in  love  ?  Do  they  wish 
to  christianize  the  heathen  ? — to  spread  the  light  of  the  gospel  over 
the  benighted  places  of  the  earth  through  the  instrumentality  of  this 
society,  that  light  may  be  brought  to  shine  where  no  ray  of  the 
gospel  sun  has  ever  yet  penetrated  ?  Do  they  want  a  more  ex 
tended  theatre  for  their  labours  than  that  they  now  enjoy  ?  We 
present  them  one  entire  quarter  of  the  earth.  We  invite  them  to 
go  with  us  into  the  wilds  of  Africa — to  sit  down  by  the  side  of  the 
black  man — to  teach  him  to  raise  his  eyes  from  the  earth  on  which 
they  are  bent — to  look  up  to  the  heavens  and  to  ascend  'through 


265 

nature  unto  nature's  God.'  He  works  most  inscrutably  to  the  un 
derstandings  of  men;  the  negro  is  torn  from  Africa,  a  barbarian, 
ignorant  and  idolatrous  j  he  is  restored  civilized,  enlightened,  and 
a  Christian,  The  Colonization  Society  is  the  great  African  mis 
sionary  society.  In  my  humble  judgment  it  is  worth  more,  twice 
told,  than  all  foreign  missionary  societies  combined.  Already  it 
has  planted  the  cross  among  the  heathen,  and  kindled  the  fires  of 
civilization  in  the  desert ;  and  that  cross  will  stand  and  that  light 
be  spread  until  a  continent  be  redeemed.  All  this  is  done  quietly 
and  peaceably  and  with  the  acquiescence  of  society.  Charity  dic 
tates  and  policy  adopts — can  any  messenger  of  the  Saviour— can 
any  lover  of  his  race,  look  upon  this  picture  without  delight  ?  Will 
nothing  content  him  which  is  not  done  in  violence  ?  Has  he  fal 
len  in  love  with  anarchy,  that  he  woos  her  so  assiduously  ?  Are 
envy,  malice  and  all  uncharitableness  become  assistants  in  the  mi 
nistrations  of  the  altar?  Is  fraternal  feeling  and  family  peace 
become  odious  in  his  eyes  ?  But  I  will  dwell  no  longer  on  these 
things.  Our  course,  gentlemen,  lies  plainly  before  us ;  we  will 
steadily  pursue  it;  we  interfere  with  no  relation  in  society.  In 
what  we  seek  to  do  we  are  justified  alike  by  the  wisdom  of  the 
living  and  the  dead,  and  success,  full,  ample  and  entire,  must 
crown  the  enterprise. 

"General  Bayly,  of  Accomac,  offered  the  following  resolution  : 

"Resolved,  That  we  regard  the  removal  of  the  free  people  of  co 
lour  from  the  United  States  to  Africa,  with  their  own  consent,  as 
one  of  the  most  efficient  means  of  securing  their  ultimate  peace, 
happiness,  and  prosperity. 

''General  Bailey  remarked :  Just  before  I  came  to  this  meeting, 
Mr.  President,  I  was  requested  to  offer  the  above  resolution  and 
advocate  its  adoption.  Notwithstanding  I  was  thus  suddenly  call 
ed  upon,  I  did  not  hesitate  to  comply  with  the  request ;  for  the 
truth  of  the  resolution  was  too  apparent  to  require  either  eloquence 
or  argument  to  sustain  it. 

"The  laws  of  all  the  slave-holding  states  permit  emancipation. 
It  has  ever  been  the  policy  of  Virginia  to  allow  the  master  to  free 
the  slave.  But  since  1806,  her  laws  have  required  all  slaves  there 
after  manumitted,  to  leave  the  commonwealth.  Though  our  laws 
require  all  freed  slaves  to  leave  the  state,  as  a  condition  upon  their 
emancipation,  even  philanthropy  itself  has  not  provided  an  asylum 
for  them  in  the  United  States.  What  shall  become  of  them? 
Stern,  unyielding  and  just  policy  demands  that  they  should  not 
remain  in  Virginia.  But  even  should  she  be  disposed  to  relax  the 
rigour  of  her  laws,  ought  they  to  remain  within  her  borders  ? 
Shall  they  be  taken  to  the  free  states,  even  when  their  laws  permit 
it  ?  We  are  not  the  enemies  ofemancipation  when  it  is  voluntary 
on  the  part  of  the  master,  and  when  it  can  be  effected  without  in 
jury  to  individuals  and  society.  But  when  it  has  been  legally 
commenced,  we  desire  to  see  it  consummated.  This  never  can  be 
done  as  long  as  the  negro  remains  in  .America.  He  never  can 
enjoy,  here,  the  high  prerogatives  of  a  freeman.  He  many  cease 
23* 


266 

to  be  the  slave  of  a  single  individual,  but  he  will  continue  to  be  the 
slave  of  the  community,,  whose  oppressions  will  be  greater,  and 
whose  protection  will  be  less,  than  that  of  the  individual  master. 
I  repeat :  In  America,  the  black  man  never  can  be  free ! — he  never 
can  have  the  high-born  feelings  of  a  freeman — he  must  ever  be  a 
political  and  social  slave.  The  shackles  never  can  fall  completely 
Irom  about  him,  until  he  stands  upon  the  shores  of  Africa. 

"If,  therefore,  Mr.  President,  the  negro  never  can  be  free  in 
America,  and  if  freedom  be  necessary  to  happiness  and  prosperity, 
it  seems  to  me,  that  all  philanthropists  should  join  to  bear  him  to 
Africa. 

"It  will  be  perceived  that  the  end  aimed  at  in  the  resolution,  is 
not  a  mad  or  fanatical  one,  to  be  attained  at  the  cost  of  the  property 
and  life  of  the  slaveholder,  and  the  happiness  and  prosperity  of 
society.  The  end  is  no  visionary  one,  to  be  arrived  at  by  diabolical 
means.  At  the  same  time  that  it  secures  the  ultimate  happiness 
of  the  negro,  it  does  not  destroy,  but  promotes  that  of  the  white 
man.  We  are  not  pursuing  a  phantom.  We  are  not  seeking  an 
imaginary  blessing  for  the  negro,  under  the  hypocritical  pretence 
of  discharging  a  moral  and  religious  duty,  by  means  which  will 
bring  certain  wo  upon  the  white  man.  Were  such  our  course,  we 
should  expect  to  be  denounced  by  the  wise  and  good — we  should 
expect  to  be  denounced  by  all  such,  as  diabolical  or  mad !  We 
should  expect  to  bring  down  upon  ourselves  the  loathing  of  man, 
and  the  vengeance  of  God,  who  has  never  pardoned  evil,  because 
even  certain  good  hath  come  of  it.  What,  then,  must  be  the  fate 
of  him  who  does  palpable  and  certain  evil,  that  an  ideal  and  im 
probable  good  may  come  of  it? 

"It  will  be  observed,  Mr.  President,  that  the  resolution  goes  no 
farther  than  to  declare  that  the  happiness  and  prosperity  of  the  free 
negro  will  be  promoted  by  his  removal  to  Africa.  It  might  have 
been  extended.  It  might,  with  truth,  have  declared  that  the  re 
moval  of  the  free  negro  to  Africa,  would  promote  the  peace,  pros 
perity  and  happiness  of  the  free  negro  and  white  man — of  the 
slaveholder  and  the  slave.  But,  sir,  that  view  is  not  contained  in 
the  resolution,  and  I  forbear  to  comment  upon  it.  I  will  detain  you 
no  longer,  sir,  for  I  am  sure  the  resolution  will  meet  with  the 
approbation  of  all. 

"On  motion  of  Mr.  RIVES,  of  Albemarle,  it  was 

"Resolved,  That  considering  the  principle  of  African  coloniza 
tion  as  best  responding  to  the  demands  of  southern  patriotism  and 
benevolence,  and  offering  to  the  temperate  wisdom  of  all  parties, 
and  every  section,  a  common  ground  of  resistance  against  the  mis 
chievous  and  reckless  enterprises  of  abolition,  we  regard  it  as  emi 
nently  entitled  to  the  confidence  and  patronage  of  the  people  of 
Virginia. 

"Mr.  Rives  said,  that  he  anticipated  such  a  ready  assent  to  the 
truth,  and  such  a  general  appreciation  of  the  bearings  of  this  reso 
lution,  as  to  render  it  unnecessary  for  him  to  do  more  than  present 
a  very  summary  statement  of  the  considerations,  which  had  deeply 


267 

impressed  his  mind  with  this  particular  view  of  the  principles  of 
this  noble  enterprise.  He  also  felt  that  he  should,  perhaps,,  pay 
but  a  poor  tribute  to  the  generous  enthusiasm  which  pervaded  the 
meeting,  and  prove  himself  inexcusably  indifferent  to  the  many 
evidences  with  which  all  hearts  had  just  been  gladdened — of  a 
wise  and  generous,  and  growing  sensibility  to  all  its  important  ten 
dencies,  if,  under  the  incitements  of  an  ardent  zeal,  he  were  to 
permit  himself  to  claim  much  of  their  attention,  to  enforce  the  senti 
ment  which  he  had  just  had  the  honor  of  proposing  for  their  adop 
tion.  It  should  be,  said  Mr.  R.,  our  legitimate  boast — the  subject 
of  our  mutual  felicitations — that  the  objects  of  our  society  have 
been  made  so  familiar  to  the  public  mind,  and  its  fortunes,  so  fondly 
united  with  the  loftiest  sympathies  of  our  people,  that  all  its  influ 
ences,  present  or  future,  certain  or  contingent,  have  been  weighed 
with  all  the  sagacity,  and  felt  Avith  all  the  chastened  ardour,  which 
the  sound  heads  and  pure  hearts  of  our  countrymen,  could  bring  to 
the  consideration  of  so  interesting  a  cause.  Of  course,  amid  all 
the  lights  which  have  been  concentrated  on  this  subject,  by  the 
powers  of  reason  and  the  illustrations  of  fancy,  alike  quickened  and 
ennobled  by  the  impulses  of  a  virtuous  patriotism — the  aspect  in 
which  this  resolution  contemplates  it,  could  not  have  escaped  the 
public  eye.  Nevertheless,  with  a  glad  sense  of  its  general  appre 
ciation,  I  still  hope  to  be  pardoned  for  barely  suggesting  the  general 
views  which  establish,  in  my  j  udgment,  the  double  claim  to  public 
favour,  which  this  resolution  advances  in  behalf  of  our  scheme. 

"Of  all  the  plans  yet  proposed,  to  raise  the  fortunes  of  a  degraded 
class  in  our  own  population — to  repair  the  injuries  of  a  wronged, 
and  desolated  country — to  accelerate  our  own  social  progress — to 
introduce  civilization,  and  to  transplant  and  nurture  our  own  free 
institutions,  in  a  land,  in  some  particulars,  not  less  favoured  by 
nature,  than  cruelly  outraged  by  the  rapacity  of  man — I  may  safely 
appeal  to  the  judgment  of  the  American  people,  to  know  if  this 
scheme  of  colonization  does  not  best  and  most  fitly  correspond  with 
the  demands  of  southern  patriotism  and  benevolence.  What  fatal 
blindness  to  the  destinies  of  the  southern  people,  would  not  be  im 
plied  in  their  indifference  to  the  multiplication  among  them  of  an 
anomalous  class,  subjected  to  none  of  the  restraints  of  servitude, 
and  incapable  of  being,  here,  elevated  to  the  exercise  of  civil  pow 
ers,  or  the  full  enjoyment  of  civil  rights  ?  Is  it  to  be  endured,  that 
the  social  state  of  the  South  shall  be  exposed  to  constant  exacerba 
tion,  and  the  sanctity  of  her  domestic  repose  endangered,  from  the 
presence  of  an  intermediate  population,  who  stimulate  the  vices  of 
the  slave,  and  hanker  after  the  prerogatives  of  the  master?  I  am 
thoroughly  convinced,  that  every  consideration  of  private  interest, 
and  public  duty,  earnestly  commends  this  benificent  undertaking 
to  the  cordial  regards  of  the  slave-holding  states.  In  view  of  our 
present  circumstances,  and  future  fortunes,  I  should  feel  it  to  be 
an  insult  to  the  South,  worthy  to  be  repelled  by  all  her  chivalry, 
to  suppose  her,  for  an  instant,  so  recreant  to  the  calls  of  prudence, 
sagacity  and  patriotism,  as  to  contemplate,  with  lethargic  mdifle 


268 

rence,  this  spreading  canker  on  her  social  system,  without  strong, 
undaunted,  and  persevering  efforts  to  remove  it. 

"With  these  simple  allusions  to  the  general  and  emphatic  claims 
of  the  society  upon  southern  patriotism,  let  us  turn  a  willing  ear  to 
the  stirring  appeals  which  it  makes — not  now,  I  trust,  as  never 
heretofore,  is  made  in  vain—to  southern  benevolence.  There  is 
something,  sir,  in  the  forlorn  condition  of  this  unfortunate  and  pe 
culiar  caste  of  our  society — in  the  waste,  if  not  the  prostitution  of 
their  moral  and  intellectual  capabilities,  that  addresses  itself  to  the 
sympathies  of  Christian  philanthropy,  in  strains  not  less  touching 
than  those  of  the  ancient  captives,  who  so  plaintively  wept  by  'the 
rivers  of  Babylon.'  To  relieve  them  from  the  long  night  of  their 
ignorance — to  elevate  them  in  the  scale  of  human  existence — to 
give  life  to  their  moral  and  intellectual  being,  by  placing  before 
them  the  incitements  of  civil  and  political  duties,  is  a  fit  and  ex 
alted  aim  for  all  the  benevolence  of  those  who  are,  in  a  great  mea 
sure,  responsible  under  Providence,  for  the  fate  of  this  buffetted 
and  despised  race.  When  too,  we  reflect  that  the  accomplishment 
of  this  design,  is  the  only  feasible  mode,  namely,  sir,  under  the 
plan  of  our  association,  contemplates  their  restoration  to  their  long- 
lost  home,  with  the  habits  and  the  institutions  of  our  own  favoured 
land,  prepared  to  propagate  the  blessings  of  Christianity,  and  the 
arts  of  civilization,  we  may  dare,  without  profanely  attempting  to 
search  out  the  secrets  of  the  Most  High,  to  flatter  ourselves  that 
we  discern  in  its  realization,  the  wisdom,  and  the  end  of  that  ap 
pointment,  by  which  they  were  originally  brought  to  our  shores. 
What  a  mysterious  and  holy  sanction — what  a  lofty  encouragement 
does  not  this  consideration  impart  to  our  enterprise !  Our  own 
benevolence  thus  expiates  the  wrongs  of  others,  and  Africa  is  re 
deemed  from  her  savage  thraldom,  by  the  religion,  the  sciences 
and  the  arts,  which  her  reclaimed  sons  have  brought  with  them 
from  the  land  of  their  captivity. 

With  these  motives,  which  I  am  pleased  to  find  so  opportunely 
and  unexpectedly  re-inforced  by  the  encouraging,  and  impressive 
views  of  the  Annual  Report  that  we  have  just  received, — for  as 
serting  these  proud  titles  of  our  society,  to  be  held  and  considered, 
now,  and  forever,  as  the  peculiar  fondling  of  southern  patriotism 
and  benevolence,  I  turn,  with  feelings  of  equal  gratification,  to  the 
strong  moral  safeguards,  which  it  interposes  against  the  progress  of 
that  extravagant  fanaticism,  which  threatens  from  the  north  the 
safety  and  repose  of  our  domestic  institutions.  Such,  sir,  would 
seem  to  be  the  constant  stimulus,  imparted  to  the  public  mind,  by 
the  wonderful  achievements,  which  have  been  attained  through  the 
quickening  agency  of  our  free  social  organization,  that  there  is  a 
perceptible,  and  melancholy  tendency  on  all  subjects,  moral,  politi 
cal,  and  religious,  to  run  into  thoughtless  excesses, — the  natural 
fruits  of  this  inordinate  excitement.  The  bewildering  effects  of 
this  undue  and  feverish  enthusiasm,  can  be  avoided  in  no  better 
manner,  than  by  calling  away  the  public  sympathies  from  the  dan 
gerous,  and  impracticable  suggestions  of  this  fanatical  zeal,  and 


269 

rallying  them  round  enterprises,  whose  wise,  and  safe,  and  mode 
rate  aims,  command  the  warm  approval  of  a  sound,  undisturbed 
public  judgment.  In  this  view,  the  scheme  of  colonization,  by 
satisfying  the  prudent  and  well-directed  benevolence  of  all  the 
sound-hearted  among  our  brethren  to  the  north,  furnishes,  both 
there  and  here,  the  most  harmonizing  incentives  to  a  fraternal  co 
operation.,  and  the  strongest  moral  bulwark  against  the  exaspera 
ting  designs  of  abolition. 

While  from  these  obvious  tendencies  it  has  provoked  the  strenu 
ous  opposition,  and  excited  the  undying  wrath  of  these  impracti 
cable  zealots,  any  relaxation  of  our  efforts  in  its  support,  might  be 
fitly  regarded  as  a  positive  triumph  to  their  vindictive  assaults.  A 
knowledge,  therefore,  of  our  position  in  this  respect,  constitutes  a 
powerful  appeal  to  the  independent,  and  dauntless  spirit  of  our 
people,  to  abate  not  a  jot  of  their  energies,  nor  a  particle  of  their 
contributions,  under  the  denunciations  of  these  insolent  assailants ; 
but,  on  the  contrary,  to  oppose  to  their  abuse  of  our  scheme,  the 
noble,  and  fearless  defiance,  that  best  speaks  out — not  in  menace — 
but  in  deliberate  action, — in  the  measure  of  increased  zeal,  and 
munificence,  that  we  shall  dedicate  to  this  patriotic  service.  Our 
cause  is  abundantly  sustained  by  the  active  sympathies  of  the  wise 
and  good  in  every  section  of  the  union ;  it  is  emphatically  the 
point  d'appui,  on  which  rest  the  aims,  the  hopes,  the  affections  of 
that  enlarged  public  spirit,  which  comprehends  alike  all  the  diver 
sified  interests  of  our  Avidely  extended  country,  and  aspires,  with 
equal  ardour,  to  arouse  the  south  from  her  lethargy,  and  rescue  the 
north  from  her  fanaticism. 

The  claims  of  this  institution  upon  private  generosity,  have  not 
been  unheeded.  We  have  many  gratifying  evidences  of  the  cor- 
dail  response,  which  a  liberal  and  sagacious  public,  have,  hereto 
fore,  made  to  our  earnest  claims  upon  their  support.  But  the  im 
portant,  and  practical  question,  now  arises,  whether  the  spirit  of 
the  people  shall  be  reflected  by  their  representatives  in  this  hall  ;— 
whether  the  nominal  appropriation,  heretofore  made  by  Virginia 
in  aid  of  these  objects,  shall  be  continued,  and  rendered'  efficient, 
by  the  removal  of  the  restrictions,  which  have  so  far  defeated  its 
expenditure.  I  am  proud,  sir,  to  have  occasion  to  bear  testimony 
to  you  of  the  manifestations  of  popular  solicitude  in  behalf  of  a  re 
newed  and  unrestricted  appropriation  to  these  purposes,*  which 
are  daily  reaching  the  body,  of  which  I  am  a  member. 

Amid  such  cheering  indications  of  public  favour,  and  such  in 
spiriting  auguries  of  ultimate  success,  I  feel,  that  I  can  add  no 
stronger  motives  of  encouragement  to  increased  zeal,  liberality  and 
exertion,  in  the  prosecution  of  our  enterprise  than  are  found  in  the 
ready  promptings  of  our  own  hearts. 

*  The  committee  of  finance,  of  which,  Mr.  R.  is  chairman,  is  charged 
with  the  consideration  of  sundry  memorials  for  an  appropriation  to  this  society, 
coming  from  the  towns  of  Norfolk,  Lynchburg,  and  Petersburg,  and  the  coun 
ties  of  Rappahannock,  Bedford,  Amherst,  Campbell,  Morgan,  Prince  (^eorge, 
Monongalia,  Northumberland,  Page,  Botetourt,  Hampshire,  Shenandoah,  *  au- 
quier,  Nelson,  Dinwiddie,  and  Berkeley. 


270 

On  motion  of  SYDNEY  S.  BAXTER,  Esq.  it  was 
Resolved,  That  this  society  has  heard  with  great  pleasure  the 
successful  effort  of  the  legislature  and  citizens  of  Maryland  to  plant 
a  colony  in  Africa,  and  that  it  be  recommended  to  the  board  of 
managers  to  adopt  such  measures  as  in  their  judgment  shall  be 
best  calculated  to  promote  the  establishment  of  a  new  colony,  for 
the  reception  of  emigrants  from  this  state,  as  proposed  at  the  last 
annual  meeting. 

On  motion  of  MR.  MAXWELL,  of  Norfolk,  it  was 
Resolved,  That  the  continued  and  increasing  prosperity  of  our 
colonies  in  Liberia, — illustrating,  as  it  does,  the  free  and  generous 
spirit  of  our  commonwealth,  and  displaying  the  pure  and  philan 
thropic  genius  of  Christianity,  in  the  fairest  and  brightest  manner, — 
is  truly  gratifying  to  all  our  hearts. 

Mr.  Maxwell  said  that  he  had  come  here  this  evening,  (honestly) 
without  intending  to  address  the  meeting.  Indeed  he  had  resolved, 
he  as  thought,  not  to  do  so.  But  alas!  sir,  said  he,  as  you  know, 
the  resolution  of  a  gentlemen  not  to  speak,  is  very  like  that  of  a 
lady,  (one  of  those  rainbows,  sir,  that  you  told  us  about  a  while 
ago,)  not  to  marry : — a  resolution  which,  however  wisely  and 
firmly  made,  is  very  apt  to  melt  away  before  the  breath  of  the  first 
agreeable  tempter  that  presents  himself  before  her.  And  even  so  it 
has  been  with  me  on  this  occasion ;  for  I  find,  sir,  that  I  cannot 
resist — indeed  I  cannot — the  temptation  to  say  a  single  word  which 
has  been  addressed  to  me  by  a  flattering  friend,  I  mean  our  late 
worthy  agent, in  the  kind  allusion  which  he  has  made  to  me  in  the 
report  which  he  has  read.  For,  he  tells  us  in  it — and  it  is  really 
the  first  time  that  I  have  heard  of  it — that  there  has  been  a  meeting 
in  Liberia  at  which  mention  has  been  made  of  my  name,  in  con 
nexion  with  the  remarks  which  I  made  before  our  society  here,  at 
our  last  annual  meeting,  in  this  hall,  on  moving  the  resolution  to 
establish  a  new  colony  in  that  country,  to  be  called  New  Virginia. 
Those  remarks,  it  seems,  published  from  the  press,  and  borne  on 
the  wings  of  some  sea-bird,  (some  ship,)  have  found  their  way 
across  the  Atlantic — undrowned  in  its  swelling  surges — and  have 
awakened  echoes  in  the  hearts  of  our  freedmen  there,  who  have 
sent  us  back  their  cheering  voices,  to  awaken  new  echoes  in  our 
hearts  again  this  evening.  Yes,  sir,  and  I  must  confess  that  I  feel 
myself  not  a  little  flattered  to  hear  that  my  said  speech  (such  as  it 
was)  has  been  encored  as  it  were,  and  spoken  over  again  on  that 
shore.  I  am  sorry,  indeed,  that  I  do  not  know  who  the  worthy 
gentleman  was  who  did  me  the  honour  to  personate  me  on  that 
occasion ;  but  I  trust  that  he  was  some  good  honest  fellow, — and 
a  true  Virginian  to-boot ;  and  I  hope  also,  sir,  that  he  was  duly 
qualified  to  play  his  part  with  at  least  as  mUch  grace  as  the  origi 
nal  before  you  at  this  present  time.  But  however  that  may  be,  I 
must  say  that  I  do  feel  truly  gratified  by  this  compliment,  (which 
I  know  how  to  appreciate,)  and  I  will  add,  sir,  by  your  leave,  that 
though  I  am  not  perhaps  without  some  ambition,"  yet  I  shall  never 
envy  the  honours  which  you,  sir,  and  other  gentlemen  may  ac- 


271 

quire,  from  "the  applause  of  listening  senates,"  or  admiring  houses 
of  representatives,  if  I  can  be  known,  both  here  and  in  Liberia  too, 
as  the  faithful  friend  and  constant  advocate  of  this  noble  and  inspir 
ing  cause. 

Called  upon,  then,  sir,  as  I  am,  in  this  way,  and  bound  in  duty, 
as  I  feel  myself  to  be,— like  a  guest  at  a  feast  who  has  just  been 
toasted — to  make  some  acknowledgment  for  the  compliment  that 
has  been  paid  me,  I  beg  leave  to  give  you  a  sentiment  in  the  shape 
of  a  resolution,  in  these  words  :  [here  Mr.  M.  read  the  resolution, 
and  proceeded.]  I  shall  not,  however,  by  any  means,  attempt  to 
enforce  this  resolution  by  many  words ;  for  I  know,  indeed,  that  I 
may  safely  trust  it  to  speak  for  itself.  Sir,  we  all  feel  at  once  that 
we  love  this  generous  case  in  which  we  are  engaged,  not  merely 
for  its  own  sake,  but  still  more  for  the  honour  which  it  reflects 
upon  our  state.  For,  it  is  to  her  counsel,  in  fact,  as  we  choose  to 
remember,  that  our  enterprise  owes  its  origin.  And  it  is  to  her, 
too,  mainly — or,  at  least,  to  emigrants  from  her  domain,  that  Afri 
ca  owes  those  new  settlements  Avhich  she  rejoices  to  see  establish 
ed  on  her  coast ;  and  which  we  are  happy  to  hear  are  growing  and 
thriving  as  we  could  wish.  And  we  must  and  do  feel,  sir,  that 
"the  continued  and  increasing  prosperity  of  those  colonies"  must, 
more  and  more,  "illustrate  The  free  and  generous  spirit  of  our 
commonwealth."  For,  it  must  serve  to  show  to  all  the  world, 
that  our  Virginia — the  friend  of  liberty — is  always  and  naturally 
disposed  to  favour  any  and  every  undertaking  that  can  fairly  pro 
mise  to  promote  her  cause — with  safety  and  advantage  to  all  con 
cerned.  It  will  show  at  least  that  we — her  sons  and  daughters — 
do  not  hold  our  freedmen  here  in  their  actual  state,  by  choice ;  but 
from  necessity ;  and  that  we  are  ready  and  willing  to  make  our 
half-free  people  of  colour  (hardly  that)  all  free  in  the  only  manner 
in  which  we  think  it  possible  under  circumstances,  that  we  can 
make  them  so,  consistently  with  their  real  welfare,  as  well  as  our 
own.  And  it  will  show,  too,  that  though  we  cannot  suffer  our 
bond-men  to  be  liberated,  or  rather  emancipated,  here — that  is  to 
continue  here — when  we  know  and  feel  beforehand,  from  actual 
and  ample  experience,  that  it  would  not,  and  could  not,  be  good 
for  them — nor  for  us — to  have  them  mingled,  or  rather  confounded 
among  us — yet  we  are  ready  and  willing  to  forward  them  when 
fairly  manumitted  by.  their  masters,  to  their  own  fatherland— 
which  is  the  proper  place  for  them — and  where  they  may  be  free 
indeed.  Yes,  sir,  and  we  can  rejoice  with  all  our  hearts,  to  hear 
from  time  to  time,  that  they  are  going  on,  fairly  and  bravely,  in 
their  own  way,  copying  our  free  institutions,  and  all  pur  proceed 
ings  ;  and  we  can  look  indeed  upon  their  amusing  imitations  of 
our  actions,  as  parents  look  upon  those  of  their  little  children  be 
fore  them for  we  know,  sir,  that  those  little  children  will,  by-and- 

by,  be  men— and  worthy  of  their  sires. 

But,  with  these  sentiments  towards  them,  we  must  feel  particu 
larly  pleased  to  hear,  as  we  do,  that  satisfied  and  delighted  as  they 
are  with  their  new  land,  they  yet  continue  to  cherish  a  gratetul  re- 


272 

membrance  of  their  Old  Virginia  still.  Sir,  the  report  has  told  us 
with  what  joy  they  received  the  intelligence  of  our  intention  to 
found  a  new  colony  in  Liberia,  which  should  bear  her  honoured 
name ;  and  I  am  happy  to  be  able  to  illustrate  their  sentiments  on 
this  point,,  a  little  more  strongly,  by  a  letter  which  I  have  received 
myself  from  one  of  them — a  certain  William  Draper.,  formerly  of 
our  good  town  of  Fredericksburg — a  part  of  I  must  beg  leave  to  read 
to  you,  (in  spite  of  its  mention  of  rny  speech  again,,  which  I  hope 
you  will  excuse  me  for  giving  along  with  the  rest.,)  only  to  show  the 
filial  feeling — the  true  Virginia  feeling,  I  may  say — which  beats  in 
all  their  breasts.  It  is  enclosed,  you  see,  sir,  in  an  envelope,  (the 
true  congressional  style,  I  believe,)  and  addressed  to  me.  It  is 
dated  "Bassa  Cove,  August  17,  1837,"  and  reads  thus — "Sir,  with 
much  pleasure  to  me  to  write  to  you  this  few  lines,  and  am  in 
hopes  that  you  and  the  family  are  well.  Sir,  in  reading  one  of  the 
Colonization  Herald  of  Pennsylvania  Society,  to  my  great  joy  I 
saw  a  piece  from  the  Christian  Intelligencer,  the  good  people  of 
my  old  state  are  about  to  settle  a  colony  on  the  coast  of  Africa. 
Myself,  I  being  a  Virginian,  born  and  raised  in  the  town  of  Frede 
ricksburg,  when  I  saw  that  the  good  people  of  Virginia  were  about 
to  plant  a  colony  in  this  country,  I  leave  with  you  and  the  friends 
of  the  cause  to  judge  my  feelings.  True  I  had  been  in  this  coun 
try  thirteen  years,  and  returned  on  a  visit  in  1828.  During  my 
my  visit  I  had  the  pleasure  of  seeing  you  in  Norfolk.  Sir,  we  read 
your  speech  with  much  pleasure,  and  we  have  witnessed  all  that 
you  have  said  concerning  us  and  the  emigrants  from  other  states." 
Here  he  refers  to  the  remark  which  I  made  in  it,  that  it  was  said 
that  the  emigrants  from  other  states  were  a  little  jealous  of  our  co 
lonists  from  Virginia — accusing  them,  it  seems,  of  being  rather  too 
fond  of  having  all  things  their  own  way,  (only  of  course  to  have  them 
exacty  right,)  and  you  shall  see,  sir,  how  he  confirms  my  words. 
"A  number  of  them  do  not  like  us ;  but  they  can't  help  themselves. 
We  strive  to  do  all  that  is  right,  and  no  more.  We  have  been  the 
founders  of  almost  all  the  different  settlements,  and  there  is  some 
of  us  would  leave  property  if  we  could  do  no  otherways,  and  do  all 
that  we  can  for  New  Virginia.  You  may  judge  that  there  is  some 
of  us  that  would  not  be  satisfied  in  no  other  colony  while  ever  there 
was  one  called  New  Virginia."  Such,  sir,  are  the  sentiments — 
worthy  of  a  true  son  of  Virginia — which  beat  in  the  bosom  of  that 
man ;  and  not  in  his  only,  but,  I  am  persuaded,  in  the  bosoms  of 
all  the  colonists  who  have  gone  out  along  with  him  from  our  state. 
And  now,  sir,  ought  they  not  to  endear  these  colonies  still  more  to 
us ;  and  encourage  us  to  continue  our  care  to  them ;  and  prompt 
us,  more  particularly,  to  execute  the  plan  which  we  have  conceived 
of  planting  a  New  Virginia  in  Liberia,  to  extend  and  perpetuate 
the  glory  of  the  Old,  in  that  country  and  throughout  the  world,  to 
the  end  of  time. 

But,  sir,  we  may  also  rejoice  in  the  prosperity  of  these  colonies, 
and  ought  to  do  so  still  more — as  it  serves  to  "display  the  pure  and 
philanthropic  genius  of  Christianity,  in  the  fairest  and  brightest 


273 

manner" — to  the  eyes  of  all  mankind.  Sir,  if  it  was  our  Virginia 
that  planted  these  colonies,  it  was  Christianity,  let  me  tell  you,  that 
whispered  in  her  ear,  and  put  it  in  her  heart  to  do  it.  It  was 
Christianity,  in  fact,  that  planted  our  Old  Virginia  herself,  in  a  for 
mer  age ;  and  it  is  the  same  benignant  Power  that  has  planted  Li 
beria — and  that  shall  plant  New  Virginia  too — in  our  day  ; for  a 

blessing  to  the  whole  human  race.  It  is  she,  indeed,  sir,  and  not 
woman,  (lovely  as  she  is,  and  dear  to  all  our  hearts,)  it  is  Chris 
tianity,  sir,  that  is  in  the  rainbow  of  the  world ; — uniting  heaven 
and  earth,  and  blending  them  both  brightly  and  beautifully  together, 
in  a  sacred  and  eternal  covenant  of  peace  and  love.  Aye,  sir,  and 
you  may  see  that  rainbow  now — spanning  the  ocean  that  swathes 
our  shore — and  reconciling  two  continents  that  were  some  time 
strange  and  hostile  to  each  other,  but  are  now  consenting  and  con 
spiring  in  this  common  cause.  Yes,  sir,  America,  (and  our  Vir 
ginia  foremost,)  has  sent  the  gospel  to  Africa — by  the  hands  of  her 
own  sons — by  men  of  her  own  race ; — a  noble  compensation  for  all 
the  wrongs  which  she  had  done  her — and  Africa  has  received  the 

frace,  and  is  satisfied.  So  the  cross  has  indeed  been  planted  on 
er  shore,  (beaming  more  brightly  than  the  sun ;)  and  it  shall  be 
carried  triumphantly  into  the  interior — and  through  all  her  bounds — 
by  her  proper  missionaries — to  redeem  and  regenerate  the  land. 
Yes,  sir,  and  Christianity  and  civilization  shall  walk  together 
through  all  the  length  and  breadth  of  her  dominions — diffusing 
their  blessings  around  them — winning  the  poor  barbarians  from 
their  wild  pursuits  and  pastimes,  to  all  the  happy  engagements, 
and  sweet  civilities  of  polished  life — and  "turning  them  from  their 
dumb  idols  to  the  living  God ;" — and,  in  the  language  of  sacred 
scripture,  "the  wilderness  and  the  solitary  places  shall  be  glad  for 
them :  and  the  desert  shall  rejoice  and  blossom  as  the  rose." 

The  Hon.  Henry  A.  Wise  being  present,  was  called  out  by  the 
audience  and  addressed  the  meeting  as  follows  : 

"Mr.  President,  I  find  myself  placed  in  a  very  embarrassing  situ 
ation.  I  have  just  gotten  out  of  the  cars  from  the  city  of  Washing 
ton.  Upon  arriving  here,  on  a  flying  visit  with  a  friend  to  this 
city,  I  was  for  the  first  time  informed  that  this  meeting  was  to  be 
held  here  to-night ;  and  being  informed  that  you  were  to  preside,  I 
was  tempted  to  attend,  with  the  hope  of  hearing  what  we  have  all 
listened  to  with  so  much  pleasure,  an  address  from  you,  sir,  with 
out  the  least  expectation  that  I  should  be  called  on  to  make  an  ad 
dress  myself.  And,  sir,  I,  a  perfect  stranger  here,  must  be  pardoned 
if  I  am  confounded  by  the  surprise  of  being  thus  called  on  so  sud 
denly  to  address  an  enlightened  audience  like  this,  here  assembled, 
without  the  least  note  of  preparation,  either  of  thought  or  word,  on 
a  subject  so  great  and  imposing  as  that  of  this  occasion. 

But,  sir,  my  embarrassment  does  not  proceed  alone  from  the 
want  of  preparation  to  meet  the  subject  and  the  occasion, 
myself  more  embarrassed  by  the  peculiar  attitude  which  I  have  tor 
several  years  past  assumed  towards  the  Colonization  Society.  At 
the  outset  of  my  career  in  life,  sir,  I  left  this  my  mother  state,  and 
24 


274 

like  many  of  her  sons,  emigrated  to  the  land  of  the  West.  There, 
in  the  state  of  Tennessee.,  I  was  appointed  the  secretary  of  a  State 
Colonization  Society,  and  I  became  the  zealous  and  active  friend 
and  advocate  of  the  great  original  principles  of  the  design  to  secure 
and  fortify  the  institution  of  slavery  itself.,  by  colonizing  the  free 
people  of  color.,  particularly  those  of  the  slave-holding  states,  on 
the  shores  of  Africa.  After  some  years  absence  I  returned  to  this 
good  old  Commonwealth,  and  continued  the  friend  of  colonization 
until  the  first  session  after  I  was  elected  a  member  of  the  House  of 
Representatives  in  the  Congress  of  the  United  States. 

During  the  session  of  1833-4,  a  meeting  of  the  parent  society 
was  held  at  Washington,  at  which  there  were  sentiments  openly 
avowed  and  proceedings  attempted  which  alarmed  many  of  the 
best  and  oldest  friends  of  the  cause  with  apprehensions  as  to  its  sub 
sequent  effects  and  tendencies,  and  which  caused  myself,  among 
others,  to  look  on  it  then  and  since  with  a  jealous  eye.  You,  no 
doubt,  sir,  remember  the  meeting  to  which  I  allude.  It  was  the 
meeting  at  which  the  notorious  Gerret  Smith  daringly  insisted  that 
the  ultimate  object  of  the  colonization  society  should  be  to  abolish 
slavery  ;  that  the  north  should  have  the  control  of  the  society,  be 
cause  its  patrons  from  that  quarter  had  subscribed  most  of  its 
funds ;  forgetting,  by-the-by,  that  a  single  deed  or  will  of  voluntary 
emancipation  in  the  south  gave  tens  of  thousands  in  property, 
where  the  most  zealous  northern  philanthropists  subscribed  tens  in 
dollars  and  cents  ;  it  was  there  he  openly  avowed  that  the  time 
had  then  come  when  the  institution  should  begin  to  move  directly 
towards  the  end  he  aimed  at ;  and,  sir,  it  was  then  and  there  that 
the  Rev.  Mr.  Breckinridge  denounced  Old  Virginia  as  like  Nebu 
chadnezzar's  image — part  iron  or  brass  and  part  clay,  and  ready  to 
be  broken  in  pieces !  That  meeting,  I  say,  alarmed  me,  sir,  among 
others  of  the  warm  friends  of  this  cause,  and  has  made  me  stand 
aloof  at  least  for  the  last  four  years,  from  an  active  co-operation  in 
its  great  work.  Up  to  the  present  moment,  indeed,  I  have  been 
watching  the  tendencies  of  the  society,  to  see  whether  it  would  be 
safe  for  us  of  the  south  to  participate  in  its  operations.  I  feared 
that  the  sentiments  and  influence  of  the  Gerret  Smith  party  would 
pervert  the  society  from  its  original  purposes  and  ends ;  and,  above 
all,  I  feared  that  colonization  would  be  made  to  sow  a  seed  of  dis 
union  in  the  slave-holding  states,  at  a  time  when,  soon  after  that 
meeting,  the  footsteps  of  abolition  across  the  Potomac  were  traced 
in  blood. 

The  scenes  of  the  summer  of  1835,  when  the  flaming  torches  of 
abolition  were  hurled  in  our  midst,  kindling  all  the  combustibles  of 
civil  disorder, — threatening  to  burn  down  our  very  post-offices  and 
to  consume  the  reign  of  law, — founding  the  bloody  and  summary 
Lynch  code  on  the  cinders  of  it  fires, — will  not  soon  be  forgotten 
in  the  south.  And,  sir,  it  was,  as  you  well  know,  at  the  session 
of  congress  immediately  succeeding  these  awful  scenes,  that  it 
was  thought  the  time  had  come  for  the  south  to  act  in  congress ; 
and,  the  time  being  auspicious,  as  I  imagined,  to  obtain  a  recog- 


275 

nition  of  our  guarantees  from  the  friends  of  a  northern  candidate 
for  the  presidency,  I  moved  certain  resolutions  in  the  house,  in  de 
fence  of  the  institutions  of  the  slave-holding  states.  But,  notwith 
standing  the  favourable  moment  and  all  its  immense  aids  of  ambi 
tion  and  avarice  for  offices  and  their  honours  and  emoluments — 

another  so  favourable,  I  fear,  will  never  again  occur I  regret  to 

say,  without  reproaches  now  to  any,  that  the  south  was  utterly 
unsuccessful,  and  defeated  in  obtaining  from  congress  any  decla 
ratory  pledges,  whatever,  for  the  security  of  its  rights  and  the  pro 
tection  of  its  peace.  The  south  itself  was  disunited,  torn,  divided 
and  distracted.  It  was  then  demonstrated  that  it  was  utterly  im 
possible  to  unite  a  majority  in  congress  on  any  ground  upon  which 
the  slave-holding  states  could  safely  stand.  And,  sir,  I  here  proclaim 
in  the  capitol  of  this  slave-holding  state — to  all  whom  it  may  con 
cern — that  NOW  the  same  truth  prevails — the  slaveholder  cannot 
rely  upon  any  position  of  defence  against  abolition,  upon  which  a 
majority  of  the  senators  and  representatives  of  the  whole  people  of  the 
United  States  can  be  brought  to  unite!  This  truth  is  solemnly 
confirmed  by  the  discussion  and  proceedings  now  at  this  moment 
agitating  the  senate  chamber  of  the  national  capitol,  and  now  shak 
ing  the  very  pillars  of  the  constitution  and  the  union.  Take  it 
home  with  you — all  of  you — and  reflect  upon  it  seriously  and 
gravely. 

Where  then  is  our  safety  ?  In  what  does  our  security  consist  ? 
Sir,  in  one  thing  alone.  But  one  principle  of  action  will  save  us 
and  ours  : — union  among  ourselves! — the  union  of  the  whole  South  ! 
The  south  must  stand  as  one  man — firmly,  fixed,  united — present 
ing  an  undivided  front — an  impenetrable  phalanx — uttering  no 
threats — throwing  back  no  denunciations — the  time  of  debating 
and  murmuring  is  past — but  ready  to  act ;  and,  though  a  minority, 
yet  a  minority  united  in  solid  and  solemn  purpose,  can  and  will 
deter  any  majority  which  may  ever  threaten  to  attack  their  peace, 
their  property,  their  constitutional  rights,  and  their  lives !  They 
should  unite 'as  brethren,  literally  of  the  same  faith  and  the  same 
fathers,  on  this  vital  question — as  men,  women  and  children,  in 
volved  in  one  and  the  same  common  danger,  and  bound  to  defend 
the  same  common  honour,  interests  and  rights.  Away,  then, 
with  all  pitiful,  petty,  party  division,  at  this  crisis  of  our  fate ! 
The  man  or  politician  who  now  would  seize  on  this  fatal  topic  for 
personal,  political  or  party  ends,  should  be  "anathema  maranatha!" 
Let  the  slave-holding  states  but  be  united  on  this  question,  so  in 
finitely  above  all  party  strife,  and  they  have  nothing  to  fear  against 
all  the  world  combined. 

Sir,  these  were  the  reasons— the  fear  that  the  abolition  party  n 
the  parent  society  might  succeed  in  perverting  colonization  iroin 
its  original  design,  coupled  with  the  strongest  desire  and  conviction 
that  nothing  should  be  permitted  to  divide  the  south— which  have 
caused  me  for  a  time  to  withdraw  my  humble  countenance  am 
support  from  this  cause.     I  am  even  now  somewhat  skittish,  I  < 
fess,  but  Gerret  Smith,  who  showed  the  cloven  foot  but  partially  iq. 


276 

1833-?34,  has  since  been  constrained  to  exhibit  himself  in  his  true 
and  glaring  colours  of  an  abolitionist — his  party  has  signally 
failed  to  swerve  the  Colonization  Society  from  its  first  principles — 
they  have  separated  themselves  from  it  and  joined  to  their  own 
idols — they  have  openly  declared  war  against  colonization,  and 
their  hostility  now  tends  to  drive  the  Colonization  Society,  if  it 
ever  began  to  desert  them,  back  to  its  original  principles  and  plans 
of  operation,  and  to  keep  it  pressed  close  to  those  walls  of  safety. 
This  has  almost,  if  not  altogether,  allayed  my  fears  and  revived  my 
hopes  concerning  this  great  cause.  The  line  of  demarcation  is 
now  too  strongly  drawn,  I  hope,  between  colonization  and  aboli 
tion  ever  to  be  crossed.  Their  principles  are  diametrically  opposed 
to  each  other,  and  their  warfare  will  tend  to  press  each  to  occupy 
its  appropriate  ground  and  position.  The  Colonization  Society- 
must  now  maintain  that  great  original  principle  upon  which  it  was 
founded: — "Friendship  to  the  SLAVE-HOLDER."  Never  let  it  be 
forgotten  or  departed  from.  It  stands  in  direct  contrast  to  that 
upon  which,  according  to  their  own  pretensions,  and  the  construc 
tion  of  charity,  the  abolitionists  have  founded  their  society — 
"Philanthropy  to  the,  SLAVE  !" 

"It  is  very  obvious,  sir,  that  these  two  principles,  as  interpreted 
by  the  respective  societies,  and  applied  to  their  actual  operations, 
tend  to  very  different  and  opposite  results.  The  abolition  society 
denounces  slavery  as  a  sin ;  summons  the  abstract  principles  of 
right  and  justice,  and  an  imaginary  law  of  heaven,  to  destroy  the 
most  holy  obligations  of  political  right  and  justice,  founded  upon 
constitutional  compact  among  men;  appeals  to  prejudices  and 
passions  the  most  dangerous,  because  most  fanatical,  to  release  a 
portion  of  mankind  from  an  alleged  cruel  and  oppressive  bondage  ; 
inflames  and  agitates  the  public  mind,  by  threatening  to  demolish 
all  established  social  relations ;  arouses  a  religious  zeal  in  a  crusade 
against  the  peace  and  order  and  union  of  a  nation ;  teaches  and 
preaches  insurrection  to  the  slave;  encourages  Lynch-law,  and 
hallows  the  victims  of  its  penalties  with  the  glory  of  martyrdom ; 
calumniates  and  curses  the  slaveholder;  hurls  its  incendiarism 
against  his  life ;  attacks  and  attempts  to  render  unsafe  the  institu 
tion  of  slavery,  and  thereby  tightens  the  fetters  of  the  slave  and 
makes  his  chains  more  galling ;  opposes  the  colonization  of  the 
free-man  of  colour  in  a  land  where  the  black  man  may  be  the  fel 
low  of  man,  and  advances  the  horrible  amalgamation  of  him,  here 
in  the  land  of  his  degradation,  with  those  to  whom  his  mere  asso 
ciation  is  contamination  the  most  abhorrent  and  revolting!  The 
Colonization  Society  sacredly  regards  slavery  as  a  civil  institution 
of  the  country,  which,  upon  the  principle  of  the  lesser  yielding  to 
the  greater  good,  cannot  be  attacked  by  the  law  of  humanity,  and 
must  necessarily  be  tolerated  and  sustained  from  motives  and  rea 
sons  of  policy ;  defends  all  the  eternal  and  immutable  principles  of 
right,  and  religiously  promotes  the  obvious  decrees  of  heaven, 
whilst  it  faithfully  obeys  the  paramount  laws  of  the  state ;  appeals 
to  the  reason  and  enlightened  consciences  of  men,  and  to  that  calm 


277 

and  peaceful  religion  which  ever  righteously  interposes  to  amelio 
rate  the  various  conditions  of  aU  men,  and  which  wisely  w^ ,  the" 
powerful  to  assist  the  weak-the  unbound,  the  bound ;  hushes  t 
din  oi  discord,  and  by  a  charm  preserves  our  peace  by  reconciling 
our  moral  duties  with  our  social  and  political  rights  and  interests 
invokes  the  love  of  union;  teaches  and  preaches  obedience  to  ser' 
vants;  supports  the  majesty  of  the  laws  by  respecting  public  sen 
timent,  and  classes  all  the  disturbers  of  the  public  peace  together 
inspires  the  slaveholder  with  confidence,  and  addresses  itself  alone 
to  his  affections ;  removes  the  enemies  of  his  peace  and  safety  • 
guards  and  renders  safe  the  title  of  his  property  and  its  enjoyment' 
and  thereby  obtains  for  the  slave  the  indulgences  which  the  slack 
ened  cord  of  confidence  yields  without  cause  of  fear ;  incidentally 
facilitates  voluntary  emancipation,  by  sloughing  off  the  free  color 
ed  population  always  in  the  way  of  freedom  to  the  slave  ;  strength 
ens  and  upholds  the  friends  of  the  slaveholder  where  he  needs 
friends  most,  where  there  are  no  ties  and  associations  of  slavery  to 
plead  for  the  institution,  and  where  in  the  north  it  is  a  sword  to 
pierce  abolition;  and,  above  all  these  special  benefits,  its  great 
aim  is  that  which  makes  the  grandeur  of  this  cause  rise  to  sublimi 
ty — to  make  light  shine  out  of  darkness,  to  colonize  a  nation  of  free 
men  in  their  fatherland  out  of  our  kitchen  of  slaves ! 

"Yes,  sir,  the  existence  and  operation  of  abolition  but  add  to  the 
special  benefits  of  colonization.     It  not  only  renders  the  institution 
of  slavery  secure  at  home  among  ourselves,  but  it  grants  the  only 
ground  on  which  our  friends  can  stanl,  in  the  non-slave-holding 
states,  among  our  enemies,  who  are  daily  multiplying  in  numbers 
and  increasing  in  power.     But,  sir,  I  repeat  that  the  special  bene 
fits  of  this  cause  to  this  nation,  are  nothing  compared  with  its  ge 
neral  benefits  to  all  mankind — to  all  posterity — to  Africa — to  the 
world.     In  contemplating  the  vast  ultimate  design  and  effects  of 
this  great  scheme,  of  lighting  up  a  whole  land,  now  shrouded  in 
the  blackness  of  darkness,  I  have  often  been  struck  with  a  thought 
which  justifies  slavery  itself  in  the  abstract,  and  which  has  made 
me  wonder  and  adore  a  gracious  special  Providence.    Aye,  sir,  a 
special  Providence — bad  a  man  as  some  may  have  been  taught  to 
believe  me  to  be — I,  sir,  even  /,  do  firmly,  if  not  faithfully,  intel 
lectually,  if  not  religiously,  believe  in  a  great  and  good  over-ruling 
special  Providence.     Ani,  sir,  I  as  firmly  believe  that  slavery  on 
this  continent  is  the  gift,  of  heaven  to  Africa.     Is  it  unworthy  of  the 
Divine  purpose,  or  impious  to  suppose  that  it  was  by  God  intended 
to  be  the  sun  of  the  illumination  of  that  land  of  night?     Cannot 
one  well  see  the  hand  of  the  Everlasting  Almightv— who  worketh 
not  in  a  day  or  generation — in  making  one  generation  serve  for  an 
other  of  the  same  people?     Is  there  aught  religiously  wrong  in 
malcing  an  idolatrous  pagan  sire  work  out  the  civilization  and  Chris 
tianity  of  a  son?     What  mortal  can  say  that  the  slavery  of  the  sire 
was  not  divinely  intended  to  be  the  consideration — and  is  it  any 
thing  more  than  a  fair  equivalent — for  the  arts  of  life  and  the  lights 
of  truth  to  his  posterity  ?     Africa  gave  to  Virginia  a  savage  and  a 
24* 


278 

slave — Virginia  gives  back  to  Africa  a  citizen  and  a  Christian! 
Against  which  does  the  balance  lie?  If  this  was  not  the  Divine 
will,  let  those  who  object  tell  me  how  came  African  slavery  here  ? 
Sir,  it  is  a  mystery,  if  not  thus  explained.  When  our  fathers 
landed  on  the  shores  of  my  venerable  district,  did  they  find  a  po 
pulation  fair  as  the  forests  of  the  land  ?  Who  roamed  those  forests  ? 
Were  they  too  not  savages,  ignorant^  rude,  barbarous  and  uncivil 
ized  as  the  negro  of  Guinea's  coast  ?  Were  they  not  as  fit  for  shi 
very  ?  Did  not  the  war  of  massacre,  of  tomahawk  and  scajping 
knife  give  the  fairest  pretext  for  slavery,  by  the  right  of  capture 
and  subjugation?  Boast  as  we  may  of  the  royal  race  of  aborigines 
who  lorded  it  over  this  domain — of  the  kingly  Powhatan,  the  peer 
less  Pocahontas — the  common  Indians  of  North  America  were  just 
as  fit  for  slavery,  and  ready  here  at  hand,  as  the  savages  of  Africa's 
desert  strands — they  were  enslaved  by  the  Yankees.  Why,  then, 
"were  slaves  brought  three  thousand  miles  across  the  ocean,  leaving 
our  neighbouring" tribes  of  savages  untouched  by  yoke  or  chain? 
Why  but  to  return  civilization  for  slavery  ?  Who  so  fit  to  be  the 
pioneer  of  civilization  in  Africa,  as  the  black  man  ?  Its  light  ex 
pires — has  always  gone  out  in  the  hand  of  the  white  man.  And 
what  will  the  civilization  of  Africa  not  do,  in  the  end,  for  man 
kind — for  the  world,  its  arts,  its  science,  its  commerce,  its  peace 
and  happiness,  and  for  freedom'?  What  new  fields  will  it  not 
explore  ?  The  subject  is  vast  and  unbounded !  I  say  then,  sir, 
send  forth  your  missionaries,  with  light  and  love,  to  the  land  of 
night,  until  that  'dry  nurse  of  lions'  shall  become  the  nursery  of 
arts  and  science,  and  civilization  and  law,  and  order  and  religion ! 

"Sir,  I  did  not  mean  to  say  more  than  to  apologize  for  not  mak 
ing  a  speech,  arid  to  thank,  cordially  thank,  this  meeting  for  its 
flattering  notice  and  kind  attention.* 

"The  speeches  delivered  at  this  meeting  exhibited  a  power  and 
variety  of  eloquence  which  has  been  seldom  witnessed  in  the  capi- 
tol  of  the  Old  Dominion.  The  sentiments  advocated  by  the  speakers 
were  responded  to  with  great  enthusiasm,  on  the  part  of  the  audi 
ence.  The  indications  of  the  growing  popularity  of  this  institution, 
among  the  people  of  Virginia,  are  unequivocal. 

*  In  a  letter  to  the  secretary  of  the  meeting,  relative  to  the  foregoing  speech, 
Mr.  Wise  says :— -tCThe  speech  which  I  made  at  Richmond  was  intended  to 
express  at  the  time  only  my  own  peculiar  views  of  colonization,  and  ad 
vance  the  arguments  and  reasons  which  recommended  the  cause  to  me." 


279 

"The  following  persons  were  elected  officers  for  the  ensuing 
year: 

HON.  JOHN  TYLER,  President. 

Vice-Presidents. 

His  Ex.  Gov.  CAMPBELL,  Hon.  CHARLES  F.  MERCER, 

WILLIAM  MAXWELL,  JAMES  M.  GARNETT, 

ABEL  P.  UPSHUR,  Hon.  WILLIAM  C.  RIVES, 

JOHN  H.COCKE,  JAMES  MCDOWELL, 

EDWARD  COLSTON,  JOHN  F.  MAY, 

LEWIS  SUMMERS,  Dr.  THOMAS  MASSIE, 

S.  S.  BAXTER,  Hon.  HENRY  A.  WISE. 

JOSEPH  MAYO,  Corresponding  Secretary. 
DAVID  I.  BURR,  Recording  Secretary. 
BENJAMIN  BRAND,  Treasurer 

Managers. 

NICHOLAS  MILLS,  WM.  H.  MCFARLAND, 

JAMES  E.  HEATH,  GUSTAVUS  A.  MYERS, 

JOHN  H.  EUSTACE,  HALL  NEILSON, 

FLEMING  JAMES,  JAMES  C.  CRANE, 

Dr.  F.  H.  DEANE,  PEACHY  R.  GRATTAN. 

"The  following  is  the  letter  from  which  Mr.  Maxwell  made  a 
short  extract  in  his  address  at  the  annual  meeting  of  the  society : 

"To  William  Maxwell,  Esq. 

"SiR,: — With  much  pleasure  to  me  to  write  you  this  few  lines, 
and  am  in  hopes  that  you  and  the  family  are  well.  Sir,  in  reading 
one  of  the  Colonization  Herald  of  Pennsylvania  Society,  to  my 
great  joy  I  saw  a  piece  from  the  Christian  Intelligencer;  the  good 
people  of  my  old  state  are  about  to  settle  a  colony  on  the  coast  of 
Africa.  Myself,  I  being  a  Virginian,  born  and  raised  in  the  town 
of  Fredericksburg,  when  I  saw  that  the  good  people  of  Virginia 
were  about  to  plant  a  colony  in  this  country,  I  leave  with  you  and 
the  friends  to  the  cause  to  judge  my  feelings.  True  I  have  been 
in  this  country  thirteen  years,  and  returned  on  a  visit  in  1828. 
During  my  visit  I  had  the  pleasure  of  seeing  you  in  Norforlk.  Sir, 
we  read  your  speech  with  much  pleasure ;  and  we  have  witnessed 
all  that  you  have  said  concerning  us  and  the  emigrants  from  other 
states.  A  number  of  them  do  not  like  us ;  but  they  can't  help 
themselves.  We  strive  to  do  that  that  is  right  and  no  more.  We 
have  been  the  founders  of  almost  all  the  different  settlements,  and 
there  is  some  of  us  would  leave  property,  if  we  could  do  no  other 
way,  and  do  all  that  we  can  for  New  Virginia.  You  may  judge 
that  there  is  some  of  us  that  would  not  be  satisfied  in  no  other  co 
lony  while  ever  there  was  one  called  New  Virginia.  I  am  here  at 
this  place,  building  the  agency's  house,  which  will  be  done  m 
short  if  nothing  happens  ;  and  I  have  also  on  hand  a  small  schooner 


280 

of  25  tons  burthen,  building  her  myself,  which  is  the  third  one  that 
I  have  built ;  and  this  one  I  had  named  a  year  ago.  I  thought  of 
the  place  where  I  was  raised,  and  called  the  then  intended  vessel 
the  Rappahannock  of  Virginia,  I  will  now  say  something  about 
the  coast.  I  am  well  acquainted  from  as  high  up  as  the  Galinas, 
and  as  low  down  as  Batton,  which  is  about  two  hundred  and  sixty 
miles  from  the  Cape,  that  is  from  Monrovia;  and  I  do  not  know 
of  any  place  that  can  be  got  but  one — that  is  to  say  good  place  but 
one,  which  place  is  called  Baffa  Bay .  It  have  a  fine  harbour ;  it 
have  a  small  river;  but  I  do  not  know  how  far  it  runs  in  the  inte 
rior.  The  country  is  called  Tassin.  I  had  a  factory  at  that  place 
in  1833.  The  natives  are  very  willing  that  there  should  be  a  co 
lony  settled  there.  They  sent  up  here  about  four  months  ago,  for 
the  agent  to  send  some  people  down  there  with  me.  This  place  is 
about  thirty  or  thirty-five  miles  from  Sinno,  and  at  least  seventy 
miles  from  this  place.  I  have  nothing  at  present;  but  am  in  hopes 
that  the  God  which  I  am  striving  to  serve  may  be  with  you,  and 
all  the  society.  May  the  grace  of  God  be  with  you  now  and  for- 
evermore.  Amen.  I  am 

WILLIAM  DRAPER." 

"The  American  Board  of  Commissioners  for  Foreign  Missions 
have  established  a  missionary  station  at  Fair  Hope,  Cape  Palmas, 
where  they  have  one  missionary,  the  Rev.  John  Leighton  Wilson, 
one  printer,  Benjamin  Van  Rensselaer  James,  and  one  female 
assistant  missionary,  Mrs.  Wilson — total  three. 

"Mr.  and  Mrs.  Wilson  represent  themselves  as  enjoying  good 
health  and  much  solid  happiness.  The  more  they  know  of  their 
field  of  labour,  the  more  reason  do  they  find  to  think  highly  of  it. 
Mr.  W.  has  made  three  tours,  the  past  year,  into  the  interior.  One 
was  to  the  chief  town  in  the  Bololo  territory,  thirty  miles  from  the 
station.  Another  was  to  a  considerable  town  on  the  Cavally  river, 
twenty  miles  from  its  mouth,  and  thirty-five  from  Fair  Hope.  The 
third,  made  last  spring,  was  to  Grabba,  eighty-five  miles  from  the 
town  last  mentioned,  and  one  hundred  and  twenty  from  the  station. 
He  describes  the  country  in  the  interior,  and  especially  along  the 
Cavally  river,  as  of  surpassing  beauty  and  fertility.  The  popula 
tion  also  is  greater  than  was  supposed.  A  circle,  with  a  radius  of 
thirty  miles  from  Cape  Palmas,  would  embrace,  it  was  thought, 
from  forty  to  fifty  thousand  souls. 

"The  boarding  school  is  an  interesting  feature  in  this  mission. 
The  number  of  scholars  is  fifty,  a  fourth  part  of  whom  are  females. 
One  of  the  lads  gives  evidence  of  piety,  and  others  are  silently  in 
quiring  what  they  must  do  to  be  saved.  There  are  four  day  schools, 
including  one  at  Rocktown,  containing  about  one  hundred  pupils. 
The  day  schools  are  taught  by  coloured  people.  Seven  hundred 
copies  of  a  'First  Reading  Book  of  the  Greybo  Language,'  of  six 
teen  pages,  have  been  neatly  printed  at  the  mission  press. 

"The  people  in  the  surrounding  country,"  says  Mr.  Wilson,  in 
a  letter  to  the  board,  dated  January  28th,  "are  more  and  more  de- 


281 

sirous  of  missionaries.  Before  our  brother  White  was  taken  sick 
he  received  applications  from  four  different  settlements,  to  make 
his  abode  with  them.  The  fact  being  understood  that  he  was  to 
live  at  Cape  Palmas,  we  received  delegates  from  two  kings,  with 
the  request  that  we  would  send  them  to  America,  with  letters, 
(books,)  that  they  might  get  white  men  for  themselves.  As  one 
of  these  men  stood  in  the  middle  of  the  floor  urging,  in  broken 
English,  his  own  cause,  our  dear  brother  White  was  affected  almost 
to  tears.  Said  he,  'Oh  that  our  dear  brethren  at  home  could  hear 
this  man  for  themselves — if  I  live  they  shall  hear  it.'  He  will 
never  communicate  it;  but  in  his  name  I  lay  it  at  their  feet." 

"The  board  have  also  a  mission  among  the  Zoolahs  in  South 
Africa,  having  two  missionary  stations  and  five  missionaries,  one 
of  them  a  physician,  one  physician,  and  four  female  assistant  mis 
sionaries- — total  ten.  This  mission  is  prospering,  and  promises  to 
do  much  for  the  cause  of  Christ  among  the  poor  heathen  of  that 
land. 

"In  concluding  their  report,  the  managers  would  express  their 
deep  conviction — more  deep  by  another  year's  experience,  that  the 
plan  of  African  colonization  is  eminently  the  friend  of  the  South. 
The  prohibitions  of  the  i'ree  states,  with  regard  to  the  admission  of 
the  free  blacks,  is  well  known,  and  should  the  example  of  Missis 
sippi  be  followed  by  the  other  slave-holding  states  of  the  south 
west — as  it  must  be  soon — either  a  channel  must  be  opened  for 
this  population  to  flow  off  in  the  direction  of  Africa,  or  it  must 
multiply  among  us  in  a  new  ratio  of  increase,  to  its  own  ultimate 
injury,  and  the  prejudice  of  the  public  good;  therefore  the  early 
preparation  of  an  asylum  on  a  large  scale,  is  called  for,  not  only  by 
the  principles  of  sound  policy,  but  by  the  much  higher  considera 
tions  of  humanity  and  justice." 

"Twenty  years  have  elapsed  since  the  fathers  of  the 
institution  "assembled  on  that  occasion,  and  the  fruits  of 
their  wisdom  and  benevolence  are  now  maturing  in  the 
growth  and  prosperity  of  Christian  communities  on  the 
African  coast — but  recently  the  home  of  barbarism,  su 
perstition,  and  the  refuge  of  crime.  The  great  experi 
ment  they  proposed,  has  been  tried,  and  proved  success 
ful.  They  have  demonstrated  both  its  practicableness 
and  beneficence  before  their  country  and  the  world.  It 
remains  for  the  American  people  to  decide  whether  a 
scheme  which  a  private  association,  with  scanty  resources, 
derived  mostly  from  individual  contributions,  opposed  by 
hostile  opinions  at  every  step  of  its  progress,  and  obliged 
to  meet  and  conquer  all  the  difficulties  of  colonization  in 
a  distant,  wild,  and  savage  country,  has  so  well  com- 


282 

menced,  shall  be  accomplished  in  all  its  magnitude,  by 
the  public  treasure  and  power.  We  rejoice  to  know  that 
the  subject  of  appropriating  funds  in  aid  of  this  object,  is 
under  consideration,  both  in  the  legislatures  of  Virginia 
and  Pennsylvania." 

Thus  we  see  that  some  of  the  first  men  in  all  the 
south  are  colonizationists,  and  some  of  the  best  of  the 
free  coloured  population  look  to  colonization's  the  pro 
per  remedy  by  which  those  now  free  may  enjoy  in  the 
land  of  their  fathers  that  freedom.  On  the  subject  of 
colonization,  at  present,  we  will  only  add  an  extract  from 
the  letter  of  a  coloured  man,  read  on  the  same  occasion, 
and  making  a  few  other  quotations  and  remarks,  dismiss  it. 
We  have  alluded  to  public  sentiment  in  the  south  on  the 
subject  of  colonization.  We  cannot  set  this  forth  better 
than  it  is  done  in  this  same  report  of  the  Virginia  Colo 
nization  Society.  They  say : 

"The  evidences  of  public  favour  exhibited  toward  this  enterprise 
in  Virginia,,  during  the  past  year.,  the  board  take  pleasure  in  report 
ing,  are  more  numerous  and  unequivocal  than  those  of  any  similar 
period  of  time,  since  their  connection  with  the  society.  It  is  well 
known.,  that  the  friends  of  the  object  made  an  effort  to  obtain  from 
the  last  legislature,  such  an  alteration  of  the  act  of  1833,  as  would 
render  the  appropriation  therein  made,  available;  being  satisfied 
that  the  legislature  of  that  year  never  could  have  intended  that  act 
to  remain  a  dead  letter.  They  failed  to  obtain  the  alteration ;  but 
evidence  has  accumulated  since,  to  prove  the  fact,  (of  which  the 
best  informed  had  at  the  time  no  doubt,)  that  the  sentiments  of  the 
people  of  the  state  were  not  represented  by  the  vote  taken  upon 
the  proposed  alteration.  And  although  the  managers  do  not  intend 
to  renew  their  application,  being  of  opinion  that  such  application 
will  be  more  effectually  made  by  the  people  themselves,  they 
would  report  to  the  society,  that  their  correspondence  has,  up  to 
this  date,  extended  over  about  fifty  counties ;  from  these,  evidences 
of  unpopularity  have  been  received  but  in  one  instance.  It  ap 
pears,  from  the  testimony  of  the  most  respectable  gentlemen,  that 
this  enterprise  is  warmly  approved  by  the  great  majority  of  the 
citizens  of  various  parts  of  the  country.  Assurances  have  been 
received  from  gentlemen  of  the  first  standing,  and  of  extensive  ac 
quaintance,  that  in  many  of  the  counties  below  Richmond,  the 
objects  of  the  society  are  regarded  with  general  approbation.  In 
view  of  these  facts,  and  in  view  of  the  known  sentiments  of  the 
great  lights  of  Virginia,  from  Gen.  Washington  to  Chief  Justice 
Marshall,  the  hope  of  more  liberal  aid  is  confidently  indulged.  In 
the  judgment  of  the  board,  the  time  cannot  be  far  distant  when  all 


283 

must  see,  that  the  Colonization  Society  has  been  uniformly  faith 
ful  to  the  interests  of  the  South,  and  that  it  proposes  still  to  further 
those  interests,  to  the  extent  of  its  ability.  In  their  judgment  it  has 
a  direct  and  powerful  tendency  to  suppress  fanatical  and  dangerous 
excitements,  by  whatever  cause  provoked,  as  shown  in  the  history 
or  the  past  year,  both  at  the  north  and  the  south,  and  in  this  opinion 
they  are  happy  to  find  themselves  sustained  by  the  governor  of 
Maryland,  in  his  late  message  to  the  legislature  of  that  state.  He 
uses  the  following  language  :  '  We  herewith  present  the  Annual 
Report  of  the  Board  of  Managers  appointed  under  the  act  of  1831, 
entitled  an  act  relating  to  the  people  of  colour  of  this  state,  and  it 
gives  us  pleasure  to  call  the  attention  of  the  legislature,  to  the  dili 
gence  arid  success  of  the  gentlemen  whose  gratuitous  services  have 
been  rendered  to  the  state,  since  the  adoption  of  the  system  indi 
cated  in  the  act  last  mentioned.  The  plan  of  independent  state 
action,  first  suggested  in  Maryland — pursued  by  the  state  society, 
and  countenanced  by  the  managers  of  the  state  fund — appears  to 
us  to  be  that  which  is  best  suited  to  the  condition  of  the  slave-hold 
ing  states  of  the  union.  It  repudiates  all  foreign  and  unsolicited 
interference,  whether  by  the  general  government,  societies  or  indi 
viduals,  with  the  subject  of  slavery,  Avithin  the  limits  of  the  states 
where  it  exists,  and  leaves  it  to  each  state,  exclusively,  to  adopt 
such  measures  in  regard  to  it,  as  are  suited  to  its  peculiar  circum 
stances.  The  plan  has  been  so  far  successfully  pursued,  as  will 
be  seen  by  the  accompanying  report,  that  there  is  now  in  prospe 
rous  existence  on  the  coast  of  Africa,  a  settlement  of  emigrants 
from  this  state,  under  the  separate  control  of  the  State  Coloniza 
tion  Society,  appropriated  to  the  use  of  emigrants  from  Maryland, 
and  now  capable  of  receiving  any  number  that  may  be  prepared  to 
emigrate.' 

"When  the  proceedings  of  our  last  annual  meeting  reached  the 
colony,  a  public  meeting  was  called,  the  proceedings  of  which  ap 
pear  in  two  letters  addressed  to  the  corresponding  secretary  of  this 
society.  The  following  are  extracts : — f At  a  public  meeting  of  a 
number  of  citizens  of  this  place,  it  was,  on  motion,  Resolved,  That 
the  proceedings  of  the  sixth  annual  meeting  of  the  Virginia  Colo 
nization  Society,  together  with  Mr.  Maxwell's  speech,  be  read. 
On  motion.  Resolved,  That  we  hear  with  great  pleasure,  that  the 
people  of  Virginia  are  turning  their  attention  more  effectually  to 
colonize  their  own  people  on  the  west  coast  of  Africa.  On  motion, 
Resolved,  That  a  committee  of  five  be  appointed  to  correspond  with 
the  Virginia  Colonization  Society,  and  give  said  society  such  infor 
mation  as  they  may  think  best,  for  the  furtherance  of  their  cause.' 
Another  colonist,  a  native  of  Richmond,  writes  as  follows :  'That 
colonization  has  done  this,  (alluding  to  the  improved  condition  of 
the  emigrants,)  the  colonies  planted  on  the  coast  of  Africa  are  a 
standing  proof,  and  done  this  too  under  every  possible  embarrass 
ment.  -It  was  with  peculiar  satisfaction,  I  read  a  few  days  ago,  a 
resolution  expressive  of  the  determination  of  Virginia  to  settle  a 
colony  on  this  coast,  to  be  called  'New  Virginia.'  To  me,  who 


284 

am  a  Virginian  by  birth,  the  intelligence  was  peculiarly  gratifying. 
For,  notwithstanding  existing  circumstances  impel  me  to  the  se 
lection  of  a  distant  country,  as  a  place  of  residence,  yet  I  cannot 
but  feel  a  degree  of  attachment  to  the  land  that  gave  me  birth,  and 
I  am  thereby  prepared  to  take  a  lively  interest  in  every  thing  that 
concerns  its  projected  colony.  I  need  not  say  that  it  would  afford 
me  the  utmost  pleasure  to  do  any  thing  in  my  power  to  facilitate 
your  designs,  in  the  way  of  giving  information  about  the  coast  or 
otherwise. } 

"To  the  credit  of  these  colonies  it  ought  to  be  recorded,  that 
although  the  most  vigorous  efforts  were  made  by  the  abolitionists 
to  poison  their  minds,  by  actually  sending  to  Africa  and  distribut 
ing  among  them,  their  inflammatory  papers,  public  meetings  were 
called,  and  by  a  series  of  strong  resolutions,  the  abolitionists  were 
rebuked. 

"On  motion  of  Rev.  I.  Revey,  Resolved,  That  this  meeting  en 
tertain  the  warmest  gratitude  for  what  the  American  Colonization 
Society  has  done  for  the  people  of  colour,  and  for  us  particularly  ; 
and  that  we  regard  the  scheme  as  entitled  to  the  highest  confidence 
of  every  man  of  colour. 

"On  motion  of  Mr.  H.  Teage,  Resolved,  That  this  meeting  re 
gard  the  colonization  institution  as  one  of  the  highest,  holiest,  and 
most  benevolent  enterprises  of  the  present  day.  That  as  a  plan 
for  the  melioration  of  the  condition  of  the  coloured  race,  it  takes 
the  precedence  of  all  that  have  been  presented  to  the  attention  of 
the  modern  world.  That  in  its  operations,  it  is  peaceful  and  safe; 
in  its  tendencies,  beneficial  and  advantageous.  That  it  is  entitled 
to  the  highest  veneration,  and  unbounded  confidence  of  every  man 
of  colour.  That  what  it  has  already  accomplished,  demands  our 
devout  thanks  and  gratitude,  to  those  noble  and  disinterested  phi 
lanthropists  who  compose  it,  as  being  under  God,  the  greatest 
earthly  benefactors  of  a  despised  and  oppressed  portion  of  the 
human  family. 

" Whereas,  it  has  been  widely  and  maliciously  circulated  in  the 
United  States  of  America,  that  the  inhabitants  of  this  colony  are 
unhappy  in  their  situation,  and  anxious  to  return.  On  motion  of 
Rev.  B.  R.  Wilson,  Resolved,  That  the  report  is  false  and  mali 
cious,  and  originated  only  in  design  to  injure  the  colony,  by  call 
ing  off  the  support  and  sympathy  of  its  friends ;  that  so  far  from  a 
desire  to  return,  we  should  regard  such  an  event  as  the  greatest 
evil  that  could  befall  us." 

"During  the  past  year,  one  new  settlement  has  been  added  to 
the  eight  previously  existing  on  the  coast.  This  is  at  Sinoe,  be 
tween  Bassa  Cove  and  Cape  Palmas,  and  is  under  the  patronage 
of  the  State  Colonization  Societies  of  Mississippi  and  Louisiana. 
We  have  now  the  best  evidence  that  the  colonies  are  turning  their 
attention  chiefly  to  agriculture  and  the  useful  arts.  Various  socie 
ties,  lyceums,  &c.  have  been  formed  among  them  for  their  im 
provement.  Among  the  articles  which  offer  a  rich  reward  to 
colonial  industry,  may  be  enumerated  the  palm  tree,  the  various 


285 

and  important  uses  of  which  are  well  known.  An  American  mis 
sionary,  stationed  upon  the  borders  of  Maryland,  in  Liberia,  writes 
at  a  recent  date,  that  he  explained  the  doctrines  of  the  Christian 
religion  to  an  assembly  of  six  hundred  natives,  in  the  open  air. 
He  had  also  a  school  of  one  hundred  boys,  some  of  them  the  sons 
of  the  kings  of  the  country,  many  of  whom,  as  reported  by  Capt. 
Nicholson,  could  read  the  English  language  with  ease  and  pro 
priety.  By  the  aid  and  protection  of  the  English  and  American 
colonies,  the  work  of  christianizing  the  native  tribes  is  advancing 
from  many  points  toward  the  interior.  The  English  have  posses 
sion  not  only  at  Sierra  Leone  and  Cape  Coast  Castle,  but  also  upon 
the  Gambia  and  Senegal.  The  English  Wesleyans  have  in  the 
settlements  upon  the  Gambia,  five  hundred  and  thirty- eight  mem 
bers  of  their  communion,  and  two  hundred  and  twenty  scholars ; 
and  at  other  points  more  than  one  thousand  members,  and  twelve 
hundred  scholars.  The  progress  of  Christianity  in  Africa  will  be 
greatly  facilitated  by  the  English  commerce,  which  is  taking  pos 
session  of  the  Niger,  and  by  the  influence  of  the  American  mer 
chant,  who  is  turning  with  much  interest,  to  the  many  sources  of 
profitable  trade  unfolded  by  the  colonists  of  Liberia.  But  we  are 
reminded  that  the  favourable  picture  here  drawn,  of  the  condition 
and  prospects  of  Africa,  is  but  comparatively  true,  when  con 
trasted  with  the  past  history  of  that  miserable  continent.  From 
the  movements  of  different  nations,  we  cannot  doubt  that  the  de 
cree  for  the  moral  and  political  regeneration  of  Africa  has  gone 
forth  ;  but  the  work  of  executing  it  is  immense,  and  yet  to  be  per 
formed.  Subjected  from  time  immemorial,  to  a  systematic  and 
terrible  aggression — to  robbery  and  murder,  from  the  pirates  of  all 
nations,  her  wrongs  cannot  be  redressed  in  a  day." 

With  some  of  the  coloured  men  named  in  this  report 
we  are  personally  acquainted,  and  we  would  trust  their 
judgments  in  the  matters  herein  alluded  to,  as  soon  as 
we  would  trust  those  of  any  men. 

To  confirm  what  is  herein  stated  we  will  appeal  lastly 
to  the  absolute  fact,  that  colonization  is  regenerating 
Africa.  At  least  sixty  missionaries  of  different  denomi 
nations  are  now  at  work  on  the  borders  of  the  different 
colonies  among  the  heathen,  on  the  western  coast  of 
Africa  alone,  independent  of  ministers  in  colonies.  Hun 
dreds  of  children  have  been  educated ;  many  young  and 
old  people  have  been  converted  to  Christianity,  and  the 
cry  of  the  chiefs  and  tribes  is,  "Send  God  man  from  big 
America  !  Africa  man,  fool  man  !  Merica  man,  'book 
man  !'  Send  book— book— heap  of  book."  This  is  the 
cry  that  comes  from  bleeding  Africa,  which  the  abohtion- 


25 


286 

ists  will  not  hear,  and  which  they  strive  to  suppress. 
We  have  seen  in  another  part  of  this  work  that  this  is 
a  method  that  is  natural.  We  have  shown  also  that  any 
other  is  unjust.  We  now  show  that  this  is  practicable. 
If  we  look  for  one  moment  at  the  increasing  trade  of 
Africa,  and  take  into  the  account  that  as  trade  increases, 
so  also  will  necessarily  increase  the  facilities  of  transporta 
tion,  and  the  desire  on  the  part  of  the  free  coloured  popu 
lation  to  go  thither,  for  they  see  and  know  that  they  can 
not  enjoy  freedom  here.  Experience  proves  to  them 
daily  that  this  is  a  fact.  A  passage  to  Africa  now  costs 
but  about  $25,  and  they  are  aided  to  procure  this  pas 
sage  ;  who  would  have  believed  that  one  hundred  thou 
sand  foreigners  could  be  transported  in  a  year,  almost 
imperceptibly,  to  the  United  States,  and  yet  the  number 
often  exceeds  this.  Only  let  this  nation  unite  to  show 
the  free  coloured  people  that  it  is  to  their  advantage  to 
go, — thousands  will  be  ready — thousands  are  now  ready ; 
the  means  of  removal  are  constantly  augmenting,  and  the 
day  is  not  far  distant,  when  on  the  wings  of  almost  every 
breeze,  ships  will  be  borne  over  the  blue  waters  of  the 
Atlantic  freighted  with  the  sons  and  daughters  of  Africa, 
carrying  back  to  the  land  of  their  fathers,  the  great  bless 
ings  of  civilization,  light,  liberty  and  religion.  And  as 
masters  and  mistresses  desire  voluntarily  to  set  their 
slaves  free,  there  will  be  a  home  provided  ready  to  re 
ceive  them.  The  condition  of  the  slave  population  here 
will  become  better  by  a  thousand  fold.  Their  owners 
will  abide  in  a  state  of  safety,  and  have  the  greater  desire 
to  reward  the  faithfulness  of  their  servants  by  a  permis 
sion  to  return  to  their  "fatherland."  This  also  is  the 
safe  plan.  It  removes  from  this  country  a  class  of  per 
sons,  called  free,  whose  anomalous  condition  is  such  that 
they  must  ever  continue  comparatively  at  least  in  a  state 
of  degradation.  Here  they  never  can  enjoy  equal  rights 
and  equal  privileges ;  this  is  impossible,  this  is  unnatural, 
unjust,  and  it  is  also  unsafe.  To  remove  them  to  Africa 
cuts  off  at  one  stroke  all  danger  to  either  party.  Whilst 
it  frees  America  from  the  curse  of  such  a  population,  it 
exalts  the  coloured  man  in  Africa  to  all  the  rights  of  a 


287 

freeman,  it  brings  Africa  itself  under  the  benign  influence 
of  civilization  and  religion.  It  raises  the  savage  to  the 
blessedness  of  civilized  life  ;  it  pays  back  the  debt  due  by 
the  civilized  world  to  that  oppressed  portion  of  our  globe, 
and  will  ultimately  cause  that  every  African  river  shall  be 
alive  with  ships  and  boats  engaged  in  exporting  and  im 
porting  articles  of  trade.  The  comforts  of  every  clime 
shall  be  carried  thither.  The  slave  trade  now  denounced 
as  piracy  will  be  ended,  fields  will  be  cultivated,  cities 
will  rise  up  as  by  magic,  churches  will  rear  their  lofty 
steeples  toward  the  skies,  and  point  to  God  as  their 
owner.  The  Sabbath  morning  will  be  hailed  with  the 
sound  of  "the  church-going  bell,"  "the  wilderness  and 
the  solitary  place  shall  rejoice  and  become  glad,  and  the 
desert  itself  shall  blossom  as  a  rose."  Already  the  work 
is  begun.  Thank  heaven,  it  is  not  in  the  power  of  abo 
litionism  to  stop  the  current !  The  tide  sets  toward 
Africa.  Thither  the  free  coloured  race  are  bending  their 
course.  Their  vacant  places  here  are  rapidly  supplied  by 
a  free  white  population  from  abroad.  Missionaries, 
teachers,  printers,  have  gone,  and  others  are  on  the  way, 
or  ready  to  go  to  Africa.  Thousands  of  good  and  true 
men  are  already  on  those  shores  with  their  families  and 
ministers.  Kings  and  whole  tribes  are  asking  for  schools 
and  the  gospel,  and  America  says  they  shall  have  them. 
The  day  is  not  distant,  when  the  morning  shall  break 
after  a  long  and  dreary  night,  the  clouds  shall  disperse, 
and  the  sun  of  gospel  light  and  civilization  shall  arise 
with  meridian  splendour,  "and  the  glory  of  the  Lord 
shall  cover  the  earth  as  the  waters  cover  the  great  deep." 
Africa  shall — Africa  must  be  redeemed.  She  as  well  as 
other  dark  nations  calls  for  help,  and  help  shall  come. 

"From  Greenland's  icy  mountains, 

From  India's  coral  strands, 
Where  Afric's  sunny  fountains 

Roll  down  their  golden  sands  5 
From  every  ancient  river, 

From  every  palmy  plain, 
They  call  us  to  deliver 

Their  souls  from  error's  chain." 


288 

Shall  it  be  done  ?  The  south  says  it  shall.  What  will 
the  north  say  ?  Blessed  be  God,  there  are  ten  to  one  in 
the  north  and  the  east  who  say  in  the  language  of  their 
noble  son,  the  pious  Cox,  a  missionary  to  Africa,  uArRi- 

CA  MUST    BE  REDEEMED  !       LET  A  THOUSAND    MISSIONA 
RIES    FALL    BEFORE    AFRICA    IS    GIVEN    UP."       To   which 

let  every  Christian  respond  a  hearty  AMEN. 


PART    VIII. 


DR.  CHANNING'S  PAMPHLET  ON  "THE  ANNEXATION  OF  TEXAS." 
HIS  SPECIAL  OBJECT  IN  ADDRESSING  IT  TO  THE  HON.  HENRY 
CLAY.  BRITISH  PREDILECTIONS  ITS  ORIGIN,  THIS  PROVED  BY 
QUOTATIONS  FROM  DR.  C.  ITS  SUBJECT  NOTHING  MORE  NOR 
LESS  THAN  SLAVERY.  ITS  GENERAL  OBJECT.  TEXAS  DISCOV 
ERED  BY  LA  SALLE,  A  PART  OF  THE  LOUISIANA  PURCHASE,  AND 
CONSEQUENTLY,  ONCE,  A  COMPONENT  PART  OF  THE  UNITED 
STATES'  TERRITORY.  CAPTAIN  WEAVER'S  PAMPHLET  IN  AN 
SWER  TO  GORISTIZA.  CORRESPONDENCE  BETWEEN  DON  LUIS 
DE  ONIS  AND  HON.  J.  Q..  ADAMS.  ARTICLES  OF  TREATY  BE 
TWEEN  SPAIN  AND  THE  UNITED  STATES.  THE  LETTERS  OF 
MR.  NICHOLAS  BIDDLE,  LATE  PRESIDENT  OF  THE  UNITED 
STATES  BANK,  AND  PROFESSOR  HARE,  OF  THE  UNIVERSITY  OF 
PENNSYLVANIA,  ON  THE  ANNEXATION  OF  TEXAS.  REMARKS 
OF  GEN.  HENRY  STEWART  FOOTE.  APPLICATION  OF  DR.  C7S 
PRINCIPLES  TO  HIMSELF.  THE  PROPER  OBJECT  OF  OUR  RE 
MARKS  AND  QUOTATIONS. 

THE  third  pamphlet  of  Dr.  Charming  is  on  the  annex 
ation  of  Texas  to  the  United  States,  and  we  proceed 
now  to  examine  it.  At  first  view  there  appears  to  be 
something  very  remarkable  in  the  fact,  that  Dr.  Chan- 
ning  has  addressed  this  strange  appeal  to  the  Hon. 
HENRY  CLAY.  To  that  senator,  who  threw  himself  into 
the  breach  on  the  Missouri  question,  the  representative  of 
a  slave-holding  state,  himself  a  slaveholder,  and  who  has 
been  already  marked  and  excommunicated  by  abolition 
ists,  and  one  of  those  senators,  too,  who  sustained  that 
noble  prayer  of  Mississippi  for  the  acknowledgment  of 
Texan  independence.  But  all  this  will  vanish  when  we 
reflect  that  through  the  influence  of  Mr.  Clay's  name, 
25* 


290 

Dr.  C.  hoped  the  better  to  succeed  in  obtaining  "access," 
to  use  his  own  language,  "to  many  who  would  turn  away 
from  the  consideration  of  his  thoughts  before  they  were 
presented  in  a  more  general  form,"  and  by  this  aid, 
"scale  the  barrier  which  now  excludes  from  the  south  a 
certain  class  of  (abolition)  writings  of  the  north."  We 
are  not  surprised  at  this  back-handed  blow  at  that  dis 
tinguished  statesman,  the  honourable  senator  from  Ken 
tucky.  Our  surprise  is  much  greater  at  an  expression  of 
reluctance,  on  the  part  of  Dr.  C.  to  enter  on  this  subject, 
not,  at  the  fact  that  he  does  it,  or  the  means  he  uses  in 
doing  it.  We  would  have  thought  it  more  in  keeping  if 
he  had  frankly  avowed  his  determination  to  do  all  in  his 
power,  and  "leave,"  as  he  says,  "no  stone  unturned"  to 
insult  and  injure  the  south.  This  would  have  been  con 
sistent.  Dr.  C's  apology  for  appearing  before  the  public, 
taken  in  connection  with  the  fact  that  he  had  called  up, 
and  brought  already  twice  before  the  American  people, 
the  Subject  of  Slavery,  is  adding  insult  to  injury.  Dr. 
C.  is  willing  to  select  any  topic  when  he  desires  to  accom 
plish  an  end,  and  in  the  sequel  we  shall  see  that,  however 
he  may  have  entered  upon  it  with  "great  reluctance," 
he  has  done  it  with  a  bitterness  and  rancour  which  show 
how  much  he  delights  in  this  work  of  division.  We 
therefore  clear  him,  as  he  is  wont  to  clear  himself,  of 
"caution,  circumlocution,  and  plausible  softenings  of  lan 
guage,"  and  in  our  remarks  shall  have  to  show  him,  as 
we  believe  he  is,  a  downright,  open,  violent  abolitionist, 
who  on  this,  as  on  other  points,  is  determined  that  the 
south,  the  constitution  to  the  contrary  notwithstanding, 
shall  bend  or  break. 

The  first  points  we  propose  to  consider  are  the  true 
origin,  and  then  the  avowed  object  of  this  pamphlet. 
Wre  leave  the  real  question  of  the  annexation  of  Texas 
with  our  statesmen  and  the  country.  We  are  to  consider 
Dr.  C's  pamphlet,  and  we  shall  do  this  apart  from  those 
considerations  which  do  now  or  may  hereafter  point  out 
the  true  policy  of  this  country  respecting  the  annexation 
of  Texas.  We  are  truly  sorry  to  say  that  on  reading  it 
carefully  and  calmly,  we  are  forced  to  the  conclusion, 
that  it  forms  only  a  part  of  that  plan,  which  has  been  so 


291 

long  and  systematically  carried  on,  by  some  men,  whereby 
to  attack,  insult,  and  the  better  to  assault  the  south,  and 
destroy  all  its  proper,  and  legitimate  or  constitutional  in 
fluence,  in  the  councils  of  this  great  confederacy.  We 
have  no  intention  to  enter  ourself  as  one  among  those, 
whose  very  existence  is  dependent  on  the  way-side,  par 
tisan,  political  slang  of  the  day.  Far,  very  far  from  this 
are  both  our  purpose  and  desire.  But  when  we  coolly 
consider  that  system  of  opposition  which  has  been  for 
many  years  carried  on  both  in  and  out  of  congress,  when 
we  behold  the  unnatural  alliances  which  are  formed  with 
foreign  associations,  the  better  to  succeed  in  that  opposi 
tion,  by  sundry  societies,  as  well  as  distinguished  indivi 
duals,  he  must  be  blind  indeed  who  does  not  perceive 
that  the  true  origin  of  all  this,  is  "opposition  to  the 
south."  The  cry  is,  "raze  it,  raze  it,  to  the  very  foun 
dations  thereof."  Were  we  to  come  out  and  charge  Dr. 
Channing  and  others  with  a  want  of  patriotism,  we  should 
be  excommunicated  from  the  pale  of  Christianity,  and  pa 
triotism  too,  as  being  wanting  in  charity  and  all  the  feel 
ings  that  bind  fellow-citizens  together.  Be  that  as  it 
may,  our  doctrine  is,  "by  their  works  ye  shall  know 
them.'5  And  when  we  hear  the  fulsome  praise,  and  be 
hold  the  sycophantic  adulation  of  tyrant  England,  a 
slave-holding  government;  and  know  that  individuals 
are  sounding  her  acts  in  high  places,  to  wound,  insult, 
injure,  and  oppress  a  portion  of  their  own  countrymen, 
we  frankly  confess  that,  for  ourselves,  we  cannot  unite  in 
proclaiming  them  as  samples  of  patriotism.  Dr.  C.  can 
not  be  ignorant  of  the  fact  that  slavery  was  imposed  on 
the  south  by  Great  Britain,  and  that  the  north  aided  as 
far  its  means  and  interests  went  in  what  abolitionists  are 
wont  to  call  that  "bloody  and  black-hearted  work."  Dr. 
C.  knows  that  the  constitution  of  the  United  States  se 
cures  to  the  south  its  right  of  property  in  their  slaves, 
and  that  as  one  of  the  reserved  rights  of  the  slave-holding 
states,  the  free  states  have  no  right  to  interfere  in  it  at 
all,  no,  not  even  the  congress  of  the  United  States,  any 
more  than  the  south  has  the  right  to  petition  congress  to 
order  a  black  husband  and  a  black  wife  from  the  south, 


292 

for  every  white  woman  and  white  man  of  the  north. 
And  yet  this  question  is  presented  where  they  have  no 
right  to  bring  it,  and  more  than  once  has  this  union  been 
on  the  point  of  a  dissolution,  by  such  rash  and  impudent 
interference. 

In  that  system  which  has  been  carried  on,  the  slave- 
holding  states  have  just  cause  of  complaint  that  many  have 
sought  almost  constantly,  to  monopolize  the  entire  trade 
of  the  south,  and  render  it  tributary  to  and  dependent  on 
them,  for  all  those  fabrics  which  southerners,  from  the 
nature  of  their  population  are  forced  to  use.  English 
predilections,  an  extravagant,  and  a  protective  tariff  and 
the  intermeddling  with  slavery,  one  institution  of  the  south 
with  which  foreign  states  have  no  right  to  interfere,  have 
one  after  the  other  been  brought  on,  until  the  union  has 
been  on  the  verge  of  dissolution.  There  is  no  American 
who  feels  as  he  ought  to  feel,  that  will  not  denounce 
British  interference,  with  our  concerns.  And  yet  when 
we  look  over  Doctor  Channing's  tract  on  the  annexation 
of  Texas,  we  perceive  this  to  be  one  of  the  prime  sources 
from  whence  originated  that  work.  His  very  first  reason 
is  that  "England  has  a  moral  interest  in  this  question, 
a  strong  public  feeling  impels  that  government  to  resist  as 
far  as  may  be  the  extension  of  slavery."  We  suppose 
Dr.  C.  means  by  "as  far  as  may  be"  in  the  United 
States.  "England,"  says  he,  "is  a  privileged  nation." 
With  the  exception  of  the  promulgation  of  Christianity, 
says  the  Doctor,  "I  know  not  a  moral  effort  so  glorious, 
as  the  long,  painful,  victorious  struggle  of  her  philanthro 
pists,  against  the  concentration  of  all  horrors,  cruelties, 
and  crimes,  the  slave  trade.  Her  recent  emancipation 
act,  is  the  most  signal  expression  afforded  by  our  times 
of  the  progress  of  civilization  and  a  pure  Christianity. 
He  knows  not  that  history  records  a  national  act  so  dis 
interested,  so  sublime."  And  have  the  United  States  done 
nothing  against  the  slave  trade?  is  a  nation  that  holds  a 
hundred  millions  of  Hindostanese,  in  bondage  the  most 
abject,  the  very  pink  of  morality  ?  what  does  such  language 
mean?  of  what  is  it  indicative;  but  to  that  sycophantic 
bowing,  which  characterized  some  during  the  last  war  to 
the  power  that  dared  to  rob  our  ships,  and  impress  and 


293 

murder  our  brothers  on  the  high  seas.  It  is  a  part  of  that 
very  plan  that  did  jeopard  the  liberty  of  our  country,  at 
the  moment  in  which,  the  vile  Cockburn  and  his  corrupt 
and  polluted  soldiery  led  on  by  negroes,  as  their  pilots  and 
guides,  were  robbing  alike  the  hen-roosts  and  warehouses, 
stealing  slaves,  imprisoning  the  aged,  and  insulting  and 
striving  to  ravish  the  fair  daughters  of  the  south.  This  is 
the  moral  nation,  these  are  the  Christians,  and  Christianity 
shall  surely  "die  with  them." 

How  insulting  is  the  language  used  by  Dr.  C.  in  this 
virtual  exposition  of  the  origin  of  his  piece  against  "the 
annexation  of  Texas,  to  the  United  States."  "England 
is  a  privileged  nation."  England  has  the  right  to  interfere 
in  our  concerns.  "England  has  a  moral  interest  as  well 
as  a  political  one,"  and  England  has  the  right  to  say,  do 
this  if  you  dare  to  both  Texas  and  the  United  States. 
She  may  turn  her  negroes  free  on  the  Island  of  Jamaica, 
to  fall  back  from  order,  civilization  and  religion,  and 
endanger  our  peace,  liberty  and  lives.  She  may  interfere 
in  our  matters,  she  "is  a  privileged  nation."  She  may 
send  a  vile  wretch,  a  Thompson  here,  to  raise  routs  and 
riots  in  our  midst,  and,  let  the  south  stand  still,  all  is  well. 
Our  northern  brethren  may  form,  associations,  and  unite 
with  such  in  England  the  "privileged  nation"  to  overwhelm 
the  south  in  ruin,  and  all  is  right.  How  dare  the  south 
resist  the  will  of  such  a  renowned  and  mighty  power. 
Here  is  developed  the  British  predeliction,  here  we  behold 
"the  cloven  foot,"  and  here  too  is  the  true  origin  of  all  Dr. 
Channing's  efforts. 

But  let  us  look  next  at  the  object.  That  this  is  a  di 
rect  attack  upon  the  south  and  an  effort  to  curtail  and 
prevent  her  influence  in  the  councils  of  this  nation  is  so 
apparent,  "that  he  who  runs  may  read."  We  do  not 
mean  by  this,  that  Dr.  C.  only  attacks  the  institutions  of 
the  south,  and  seeks  to  vilify  and  insult  it  by  a  repetition 
of  his  stale  dogmas  concerning  slavery,  but  he  comes  out 
openly  and  boldly  with  that  which  has  long  been  the  ob 
ject  of  certain  persons,  and  avows  that  his  design  is  not 
only  to  prevent  an  augmentation  of  the  value  of  slaves, 
but  that  the  north  should  resist  the  annexation  of  Texas, 
because  it  would  be  strengthening  the  South.  When  we 


';:        7 


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296 

when  the  attention  of  all  France  was  directed  toward 
Canada,  ROBERT  CAVALIER  DE  LA  SALLE  embarked  for 
fame  and  fortune  to  New  France,  and  at  the  death  of 
Marquette,  he  dwelt  at  the  outlet  of  Lake  Ontario.  After 
exploring  the  lakes  Ontario  and  Erie,  he  returned  to 
France,  obtained  the  rank  of  nobility,  and  had  granted  to 
him  a  large  domain  in  America,  and  the  exclusive  privi 
lege  of  trading  with  the  five  nations.  From  1675  to 
1677,  he  erected  houses  and  cultivated  fields  in  what  was 
then  a  vast  wilderness.  Having  heard  of  the  wander 
ings  of  DE  SOTO,  and  the  Iroquois  Indians  having  point 
ed  out  the  course  of  the  Ohio,  he  formed  the  plan  of 
opening  a  trade  between  Europe  and  the  Mississippi, 
with  whose  waters,  the  Ohio,  he  knew  evidently  mingled 
its  vast  streams.  Repairing  again  to  France,  he  made 
arrangements  to  carry  out  his  plan.  On  his  return  he 
ascended  the  lakes,  in  the  first  vessel,  built  under  his  own 
direction,  that  ever  ploughed  their  waters  ;  and  after  en 
countering  great  dangers  and  immense  toil,  he  penetrated 
to  the  Illinois  country.  There  he  learned  the  course  of 
the  Mississippi.  He  despatched  his  faithful  comrade, 
Louis  Hennepen,  to  examine  the  Upper  Mississippi, 
whilst  he  went  to  the  French  settlements,  and  then  re 
turned  with  the  stores  necessary  for  rigging  a  brigantine, 
and  in  the  early  part  of  1682,  he  and  his  men  descended 
the  great  Mississippi  river  to  the  sea.  He  took  formal 
possession  of  that  vast  country  for  FRANCE,  and  gave  to 
it  the  name  of  LOUISIANA,  in  honour  of  Louis  XIV.  In 
1683,  he  returned  to  Quebec,  thence  to  France ;  and  in 
July,  1684,  a  fleet  of  four  vessels  left  Rochelle,  in  France, 
for  Louisiana,  and  sometime  early  in  1685,  they  landed, 
after  enduring  many  hardships,  much  disappointment  and 
delay,  at  a  place  on  Matagorda  bay,  but  not  without 
losing  their  store-ship.  Ascending  the  river,  he  selected 
a  site  for,  and  erected  a  fort,  the  bay  of  Matagorda  being 
on  the  south  and  east.  There  they  built  their  houses,  and 
there,  in  what  is  now  called  Texas,  was  the  first  settle 
ment  of  the  Louisiana  country  made.  France  took  for 
mal  possession  of  this  country,  and  its  arms  were  carved 
on  the  native  lofty  trees  of  that  lovely  land.  "And  by 


297 

no  treaty  or  public  document,  except  the  general  cession 
of  Louisiana,  did  she  ever  relinguish  the  right  to  that 
province  as  colonized  under  her  banners,  and  made  still 
more  surely  a  part  of  her  territory,  because  the  colony 
found  there  its  grave." 

LA  SALLE,  in  attempting,  after  various  reverses,  to 
seek  for  and  obtain  help  of  his  countrymen,  was  killed 
on  his  way.  His  nephew  being  murdered  by  two  of  his 
men,  he  went  to  seek  after  him,  and  ascertain  the  cause 
of  his  delay.  Overtaking  the  murderers,  he  was  shot 
down  by  one  of  them,  and  his  remains,  after  being  de 
spoiled,  were  left  on  the  prairie,  naked  and  without  bu 
rial.,  to  be  devoured  by  wild  beasts.  Thus  he  fell,  and 
there  in  the  great  Mississippi  valley,  he  who  was  its  dis 
coverer,  slept  the  sleep  of  death,  destined  to  be  remem 
bered  through  all  time,  as  the  father  of  colonization  in 
that  vast  region.  From  the  history  of  his  course,  we 
have  given  this  contracted  outline,  and  of  the  first  settle 
ment  in  Louisiana,  in  order  to  establish  the  fact,  that 
Texas  formed  a  part  of  the  territory  of  Louisiana.  To 
the  United  States  it  belonged  under  the  Louisiana  treaty, 
and  if  were  not  included  therein,  it  belongs  at  this  day  to 
France. 

Our  remarks  are  not  intended  by  any  means,  "to  impair 
existing  treaties,"  but  to  show  that  all  the  country  disco 
vered  by  La  Salle,  on  the  Mississippi,  was  disposed  of 
by  France  to  the  United  States.  This  disposition  was 
made  in  1803,  by  treaty,  for  $60,000,000  with  all  the 
sovereignty,  &c.  thereof.  We  are  happy  in  being  able 
not  only  to  confirm  what  we  here  say,  on  this  subject, 
by  a  reference  to  the  very  best  historians,  but  by  reference 
also  to  the  correspondence  of  the  Hon.  J.  Q.  ADAMS 
and  the  Spanish  minister,  Don  Luis  de  Onis,  who  negoti 
ated  the  Florida  treaty  with  him,  in  1819.  We  have 
also  read  with  deep  interest,  a  work  written  by  Capt. 
WILLIAM  A.  WEAVER,  in  answer  to  an  abusive  pamphlet 
put  out  some  years  since,  by  M.  E.  Garostiza,  the  Mexi 
can  minister.  Captain  Weaver's  answer  is  a  noble  de 
fence  of  his  country's  claims,  and  the  character  ot 
government.  But  few  know  the  man  that  thus  nobly 
26 


298 

defended  them,  against  the  unwarrantable,  and  insulting 
attacks  of  an  unpolished  foreigner.  Accidentally  this 
book  came  to  our  notice.  Its  author  was  once  our 
schoolmate,  we  were  born  and  raised  in  the  same  village, 
and  partly  educated  in  the  same  school.  We  cannot  tell 
the  gratification  that  we  have  felt  in  referring  to  and 
drawing  upon  the  valuable  resources  of  an  old  school 
mate,  and  with  great  pleasure  we  recommend  it  to  the 
perusal  of  all  who  wish  to  understand  the  Texan  question. 
Our  limits  prevent  many  quotations  from  his  valuable  col 
lection  of  documents;  but  we  feel  it  a  duty  to  point 
to  those  sources,  from  which  the  intelligent  reader  may 
derive  positive  information  on  this  subject. 

We  must  also  refer  here  to  a  fact  already  alluded  to. 
It  is  that  by  one  article  of  the  Louisiana  treaty,  all  the 
inhabitants  of  that  tract  of  country  sold  to  the  United 
States  by  France,  were  to  be  citizens  of  the  said  states, 
and  were  in  due  time  to  be  received  with  their  own  con 
sent  into  the  union.  Texas  according  to  the  evidence 
adduced  by  Mr.  Adams  in  his  correspondence  with  De 
Onis,  the  Spanish  minister,  did  belong,  under  that  treaty, 
to  the  United  States.  De  Onis  not  only  admitted  this, 
but  on  his  return  home,  wrote  a  book  to  justify  his  sale  of 
Florida,  and  regain  the  favour  of  his  government  and 
fellow-citizens,  who  supposed  him  partial  to  the  United 
States.  To  disprove  this,  his  pamphlet  was  full  of  vitu 
peration  against  this  country  ;  yet  was  evidently  intended 
to  procure  the  ratification  of  the  Florida  treaty,  then 
suspended  by  the  Spanish  government,  and  whilst  he  ac 
complished  this  he  also  received  a  mission  to  Naples  as 
a  reward  and  evidence  of  favour. 

"From  a  geographical  description  of  the  United  States, 
with  the  contiguous  British  and  Spanish  possessions,  in 
tended  as  an  accompaniment  to  Mellish's  map  of  these 
countries,  we  have  the  following:  'In  the  year  1684, 
La  Salle  sailed  from  France  with  a  small  squadron,  for 
the  purpose  of  establishing  a  colony  on  the  Mississippi; 
but  missing  the  mouth  of  that  river,  he  reached  the  Bay 
of  St.  Louis,  called  by  the  Spaniards,  and  marked  on  the 
map,  the  Bay  of  St.  Joseph.  Here  three  of  his  vessels 
were  cast  away.  The  greatest  part  of  the  men  and  goods 


299 

were  saved;  but  he  himself  was  taken  ill.  Upon  his  re 
covery,  he  took  regular  possession  of  the  country,  formed 
a  settlement,  and  built  a  fort,  which  is  now  known  by  the 
name  of  Fort  Matagorda.  At  this  time  there  were  no 
other  settlements  in  that  part  of  the  country,  so  that  the 
right  of  France  became  unquestionable  ;  and  all  the  sub 
sequent  settlements  of  Spain  to  the  east  of  the  Rio  del 
Norte,  were  regarded  as  usurpations.  'In  the  year  1721,' 
continues  Mellish,  'a  very  elaborate  geographical  work 
was  published  in  London,  entitled  'a  new  General  Atlas, 
containing  a  geographical  and  historical  account  of  all 
the  empires,  kingdoms,  and  other  dominions  of  the  world  ; 
with  the  maps  laid  down  according  to  the  observations 
communicated  to  the  English  Royal  Society,  and  the 
French  Royal  Academy  of  sciences ;'  in  this  atlas  there 
is  a  map  entitled  'A  map  of  Louisiana,  and  the  River 
Mississippi,'  inscribed  to  William  Law,  of  Lawreston, 
Esq.  This  map  furnishes  evidence,  as  to  the  western 
limits  of  Louisiana,  of  the  highest  authority,  and  fixes  the 
boundary  line  on  the  west  side  of  the  Rio  del  Norte,  to 
the  Rio  Salado,  answering  to  the  Rio  Puerco,  on  the  mo 
dern  maps.  It  is  continued  along  that  river  to  near  its 
source.'  Upon  these  data  the  western  boundary  of  Louisi 
ana  is  constructed  (in  Mellish's  map.)  It  takes  the  Rio 
del  Norte  to  the  River  Puerco,  then  along  that  river  to 
the  chain  of  mountains  which  forms  the  dividing  ridge 
between  it  and  the  Rio  Colorado ;  then  along  that  ridge 
to  beyond  Santa  Fe,  where  it  bends  towards  the  Rio 
del  Norte,  near  the  latitude  of  38  degrees  north ;  then 
along  the  Rio  del  Norte,  to  its  source,  where  a  note  is 
inserted,  expressing  that  the  limits  of  Louisiana  on  that 
quarter  are  undefined.'  Again,  in  the  description  of  the 
Rio  del  Norte,  Mellish  says,  'at  the  River  Puerco,  the 
Rio  del  Norte  again  becomes  the  south-western  boundary 
of  Louisiana.'  We  have  quoted  somewhat  liberally 
from  the  book  of  Mellish,  which  accompanied  his  map, 
because  we  find  there  a  triumphant  refutation  of  the  bold 
assertion  made  by  Barley,  in  his  communication,  that  in 
1812  none  disputed,  or  in  his  own  words,  'it  would  have 
been  regarded  as  absolute  insanity  to  dispute  the  Sabine 
as  the  boundary  between  the  United  States  and  the  inter- 


300 

nal  provinces.'  Did  not  Mr.  Monroe  dispute  it?  Did 
not  Mr.  Adams  demonstrate  the  Rio  Bravo  del  Norte  as 
the  boundary?  Did  not  Don  Onis,  in  1820,  admit  the 
claim  of  the  United  States  to  that  boundary  to  have  been 
valid  ?  Is  Mellish  an  authority  who  proves  nothing? 

"An  impartial  public  will  judge,'  says  Mr.  Onis, 
'whether  the  treaty  of  the  22nd  February,  1819,  (which 
is  improperly  called  a  treaty  of  cession,  as  it  is  in  reality 
one  of  exchange  or  permutation  of  one  small  province  for 
another  of  double  the  extent,  richer  and  more  fertile,)  de 
serves  the  epithet  of  disgraceful,  under  which  it  has  been 
painted  to  his  majesty,  and  whether  I  have  not  in  it  at 
tended  to  the  honour  and  interest  of  the  nation.  I  will 
agree  however,  that  for  greater  perspicuity,  I  might  have 
extended  the  third  article  in  the  following  terms :  In  ex 
change,  the  United  States  ceded  to  his  majesty  the  pro 
vince  of  Texas/  &c.  as  the  government  wish  me  to  ex 
press  it ;  but  as  I  had  in  the  correspondence  which  is  in 
serted,  for  three  years,  contended  that  that  province  be 
longed  to  the  king,  it  would  have  been  a  contradiction  to 
say  in  the  treaty,  that  the  United  States  ceded  it  to  his 
majesty,  the  same  thing  being  obtained  by  the  terms  in 
which  it  is  expressed,  the  limits  that  adjudge  it  to  his 
majesty  being  fixed.' 

"We  also  refer  the  reader  to  the  able  and  lucid  reply  of 
the  honourable  John  Q.  Adams,  wherein  was  set  forth  so 
fully  the  just  claim  and  sound  title  of  the  United  States 
to  the  Rio  Bravo  del  Norte ;  that  the  Spanish  minister 
himself  acknowledges  the  truth  of  the  positions  of  Mr. 
Adams,  and  frankly  admits  that  he  had  for  three  years 
contended  for  what  he  knew  to  be  the  property  of  the 
United  States.  During  a  part  of  the  discussion,  Mr. 
Monroe  conducted  the  negotiation  on  the  part  of  the 
United  States.  Having  quoted  the  frank  and  unbiassed 
opinion  of  Mr.  Onis,  as  expressed  in  Spain  in  1820;  we 
give  also  the  following  extract  from  a  letter  from  Mr. 
Monroe  to  Mr.  Onis,  in  1816.  'With  respect  to  the 
western  boundary  of  Louisiana,  I  have  to  remark,  that 
the  government  has  never  doubted,  since  the  treaty  of 
1803,  that  it  extended  to  the  Rio  Bravo;  satisfied  I  am, 
if  the  claims  of  the  two  nations  were  submitted  to  an  im* 


301 

partial  tribunal,  who  observing  the  principles  applicable 
to  the  case,  and  tracing  facts  as  to  discovery  and  settle 
ment  on  either  side,  that  such  would  be  its  decision.  The 
discovery  of  the  Mississippi  as  low  down  as  the  Arkan 
sas,  in  1673,  and  to  its  mouth  in  1680,  and  the  establish 
ment  of  settlements  on  that  river,  and  on  the  Bay  of  St. 
Bernard,  on  the  western  side  of  the  Colorado,  in  1685, 
under  the  authority  of  France,  when  the  nearest  settle 
ment  of  Spain  was  in  the  province  of  Panuco,  are  facts 
which  place  the  claim  of  the  United  States  on  ground 
not  to  be  shaken.  It  is  known  that  nothing  occurred 
afterwards  on  the  part  of  France  to  weaken  this  claim. 
The  difference  which  afterwards  took  place  between 
France  and  Spain,  respecting  Spanish  encroachments 
there,  and  the  war  which  ensued,  to  which  they  contribu 
ted,  tend  to  confirm  it. 

"Thus  we  behold,  by  the  concurrent  testimony  of  both 
parties  to  the  negotiation  of  the  treaty  of  1819,  what 
were  the  opinions  of  the  adverse  negotiations.  On  the 
6th  of  February,  1819,  Mr.  Adams  presented  to  Don 
Luis  De  Onis  the  project  of  an  article,  describing  the 
western  boundary.  'Article :  It  is  agreed  that  the  wes 
tern  boundary  between  the  United  States  and  the  territo 
ries  of  Spain  shall  be  as  follows:  Beginning  at  the  mouth 
of  the  river  Sabine,  on  the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  following 
the  course  of  said  river  to  the  thirty-second  degree  of 
latitude,  the  eastern  bank,  and  all  the  islands  in  the  river 
to  belong  to  the  United  States,  and  the  western  bank  to 
Spain,  thence  due  north/  &c.  Three  days  afterwards, 
on  the  9th  of  February,  1819,  Don  Luis  De  Onis  trans 
mitted  to  the  secretary  of  state  of  the  United  States,  a 
project  of  a  treaty,  with  an  English  translation,  from  the 
fourth  article  of  which  we  make  the  following  extract: 
'The  boundary  line  between  the  two  countries,  shall  be 
gin  on  the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  at  the  mouth  of  the  river 
Sabine,  in  the  sea,  continuing  north,  along  the  middle  of 
that  river  to  the  thirty-second  degree  of  latitude,  thence 
by  a  line  due  north,'  &c.  In  the  counter  project  of  Mr. 
Adams,  on  the  13th  of  February,  it  is  proposed  the  third 
article  shall  read  thus:  'The  boundary  line  between  the 
two  countries  west  of  the  Mississippi,  shall  begin  on  the 
26* 


302 

Gulf  of  Mexico,  at  the  mouth  of  the  river  Sabine,  in  the 
sea ;  continuing  north,  along  the  western  bank  of  that 
river  to  the  thirty-second  degree  of  latitude,  thence  by  a 
line  due  north,'  &c.  By  the  above  quotations  from  the 
several  projects  of  those  ministers,  it  appears  that  the 
two  pregnant  words  'continuing  north,'  were  interpola 
ted  by  M.  Onis,  and  adopted  by  Mr.  Adams,  as  they  now 
stand  in  the  treaty.  Are  they  without  meaning?  Or 
rather  is  not  a  north  course,  from  a  determined  point,  a 
more  definite  term,  and  more  precise  than  that  of  depend 
ing  upon  mere  nomenclature  in  a  country,  then  almost  a 
'terra  incognita,'  and  whose  geography  is  but  indiffe 
rently  settled  at  the  present  day."  From  all  this  it  must 
plainly  appear  to  the  intelligent  reader,  that  Texas,  to  its 
utmost  southern  and  western  boundary,  was  the  property 
of  the  United  States.  That  this  vast  and  valuable  tract 
of  country,  a  portion  of  the  south,  gained  under  the  Lou 
isiana  treaty,  was  sold  by  Mr.  Adams  to  the  Spanish 
government,  and  that  De  Onis  boasted  that  he  had  sold 
Florida  for  its  value,  (virtually  cash,)  five  millions  of  dol 
lars,  and  had  also  gained  Texas,  a  territory  equal  in 
extent  to  at  least  ten  small  states,  of  the  size  of  Ken 
tucky.  The  south  had  no  claims  on  the  Hon.  Mr.  Adams, 
but  it  had  on  Mr.  Monroe,  and  it  will  not  soon  forget 
that  he  winked  at  and  encouraged  the  disposition  of  a 
portion  of  its  territory ;  but  we  forbear.  The  deed  is 
done,  a  part  of  the  Louisiana  purchase  was  disposed  of 
to  gain  Florida,  a  peninsula  already  conquered  by  Gen. 
Jackson.  Texas  is  free.  Free  from  Spain,  free  from 
Mexico,  free  from  the  United  States.  A  sovereign,  inde 
pendent  nation,  acknowledged  such,  and  the  arbiter  under 
heaven  of  her  own  course  and  her  own  destiny.  But  let 
us  stop  and  ask  here,  is  it  possible,  that  when  she  was 
willing  to  return  and  take  her  proper  position  as  one  of 
the  confederated  sovereign  states  of  this  union,  to  bring 
back  for  nothing  to  the  United  States  all  that  was  thus 
wantonly  sold,  and  more  too, — we  ask  is  it,  can  it  be  pos 
sible  that  any  just  reason  shall  be  assigned  why  it  may 
not  be  done?  Dr.  C.  assigns  reasons  which  in  our  esti 
mation  cannot  have,  at  least  ought  not  to  have,  any  weight. 
The  first  is  that  to  receive  Texas,  "would  be  to  perpetu- 


303 

ate  slavery."  And  does  not  the  doctor  know  that  Texas 
is  a  slave-holding  country  already?  Does  he  not  know 
that  whether  received  into  this  union  or  not,  it  will  con 
tinue  such  for  a  time  at  least.  Does  he  not  know,  that 
slaves  under  its  constitution,  a  constitution  pronounced 
by  the  Hon.  Henry  Clay  the  best  in  the  world,  can 
never  be  free  there.  Texas  says  when  coloured  men 
are  emancipated  here,  let  them  remove  to  Africa.  That 
is  their  home,  and  that  their  proper  place.  But  why  does 
Dr.  C.  press  this  question  .now  1  Has  not  Texas  with 
drawn  all  application  for  admission  into  this  union?  This 
question  is  not  before  the  people  of  the  United  States 
now.  So  far  from  this  she  has  taken  her  stand  among 
the  nations  of  the  earth,  and  must  and  will  go  on  from 
prospering  to  prosper.  With  this  question,  "the  annexa 
tion  of  Texas,"  we  have  nothing  to  do.  We  repeat,  we 
leave  it  with  politicians  and  our  countrymen.  The  south 
itself  is  not  agreed,  it  is  possible,  on  this  subject.  We 
know  not  their  opinions,  we  have  never  sought  to  know 
them.  But  we  have  something  yet  to  do  with  Dr.  C. 
about  lugging  this  question  before  the  American  people, 
that  under  the  cover  of  the  "Annexation  of  Texas,"  and 
the  name  of  that  great  man,  Mr.  Clay,  whose  opinions 
he  knew  to  be  directly  averse  to  abolitionism,  he  might 
attack  the  south,  insult  her  feelings,  and  run  over  the  old 
story  already  told  twice,  and  stereotyped  by  abolitionists, 
of  slaves  starved,  oppressed,  insulted,  and  reduced  to  a 
condition  worse  than  that  of  brutes,  by  southerners,  who 
are  men  "stealers,"  "kidnappers,"  "pirates,"  "murderers, 
and  worse  than  murderers." 

We  are  happy  to  have  it  in  our  power  to  give  the  rea 
der  two  letters,  which  we  consider  an  admirable  reply 
to  Dr.  Channing's  last  tract  about  Texas.     The  one  was 
written  by  Mr.  Biddle,  late  president  of  the  United  I 
Bank,  and  the  other  by  Professor  Hare,  of  the  University 
of  Pennsylvania.     They  are  to  be  found  in  that  excelleni 
work,  a  History  of  Texas,  and  Texans,  by  Gen.  Footc, 
of  Mississippi.     This  history  we  recommend  to  ou 
ders,  as  a    most   interesting  account  of  that  delightful 
country,  and  its  brave,  enterprising  and  chivaln 
bitants".     And  especially  do  we  recommend  the  1 


304 

above  alluded  to.  Indeed  they  form  a  succinct  and  un 
answerable  answer  to  Dr.  Channing's  book  on  the  annexa 
tion  of  Texas.  If  Gen.  Foote  had  seen  (which  he  had 
not)  Dr.  C's.  tract  on  this  subject,  when  he  published 
those  letters,  he  could  not  have  placed  before  the  Ame 
rican  public,  a  much  better  antidote  against  the  poisonous 
matter  that  has  been  disseminated  to  the  injury  of  the 
brave  Texans,  in  both  Europe  and  the  United  States. 
The  extract  from  Mr.  Biddle's  letter  referred  to,  is  as 
follows : 

"The  question  of  Texas  is  strangely  misunderstood  in 
the  United  States,  because  it  is  treated  as  a  mere  party 
question,  to  be  decided  of  course  by  political  passions  and 
party  interests.  If  I  am  somewhat  less  influenced  by 
these  feelings,  it  is  probably  owing  to  the  circumstance, 
that,  for  thirty-five  years,  I  have  been  familiar  with  the 
subject.  You  know  that  I  began  my  public  life  as  the 
secretary  of  the  American  minister  at  Paris,  in  1804, 
when  all  the  details  of  the  purchase  of  Louisiana,  of  which 
TEXAS  then  formed  a  part,  passed  through  my  hands; 
and  when,  afterwards,  the  government  sent  a  party  to 
explore  the  new  purchase,  I  prepared  for  the  press,*  the 
history  of  that  expedition,  known  as  the  Travels  of  Lewis 
and  Clark.  These  circumstances  have  made  me  better 
acquainted  with  Texas  than  most  of  our  countrymen, 
and  they  may  perhaps  inspire  some  confidence  in  the 
opinions  I  am  about  to  express,  with  regard  to  the  his 
tory  and  present  state  of  that  country  ;  and 

"First  of  its  history: — To  the  common  apprehension, 
Texas  is  some  wild  waste  region,  wholly  unknown  to  the 
United  States,  which  certain  American  adventurers  have 
wrested  from  its  true  original  owner,  Mexico.  Nothing 
can  be  more  erroneous  than  all  this.  The  facts  are,  that 
when  Louisiana  was  purchased  from  France,  this  very 
Texas  was  claimed  as  an  integral  part  of  it — claimed  as 
belonging  to  the  United  States,  as  much  as  New  Orleans 
did — that  for  a  series  of  years  the  claim  was  constantly 
and  vigorously  maintained — that,  although,  in  1819,  the 
United  States,  in  their  anxiety  to  obtain  Florida,  yielded 
to  the  government  of  Old  Spain  their  claim  on  a  part  of 
Texas,  yet  immediate  endeavours  were  made  to  recover 


305 

it,  and  that  for  more  than  thirty  years,  every  administra 
tion,  of  every  party,  and  almost  every  prominent  leader 
of  all  parties,  have  anxiously  sought  to  bring  Texas  into 
the  union.  Of  these  facts  in  their  order. 

"1st.  On  the  28th  of  January,  1805,  Mr.  Pinckney  and 
Mr.  Monroe,  the  plenipotentiaries  of  the  United  States, 
acting  under  the  instructions  of  Mr.  Madison,  the  secre 
tary  of  state  of  Mr.  Jefferson,  addressed  a  letter  to  Mr. 
Cevallos,  the  Spanish  secretary  of  state,  in  which  they 
say: — 'We  have  the  honour  to  present  to  your  excellency 
a  paper  on  this  subject,  which  we  presume  proves  in  the 
most  satisfactory  manner,  that  the  boundaries  of  that 
province,  (Louisiana.)  as  established  by  the  treaties  re 
ferred  to,  are,  the  river  Perdido  to  the  east,  and  the  Rio 
Bravo  to  the  west.  The  facts  and  principles  which  jus 
tify  this  conclusion,  are  so  satisfactory  to  our  government, 
as  to  convince  it,  that  the  United  Stales  have  not  a  better 
right  to  the  island  of  New  Orleans,  under  the  cession  re 
ferred  to,  than  they  have  to  the  whole  district  of  territory 
which  is  above  described.'  This  territory,  bounded  on 
the  west  by  the  Rio  Bravo,  called  indiscriminately  Rio 
Bravo,  Rio  Bravo  del  Norte,  and  Rio  del  Norte — to  which 
the  United  States  assert  as  good  a  right  as  they  have  to 
New  Orleans,  is  this  identical  Texas. 

"2.  The  progress  of  years  weakened  nothing  of  the 
force  of  this  claim.  On  the  12th  of  March,  1818,  Mr. 
Adams,  the  American  secretary  of  state,  in  a  letter  to 
Mr.  Onis,  the  Spanish  minister,  repels  the  very  sugges 
tion  of  any  doubt  that  Texas  belonged  to  the  United 
States.  'You  know,  sir,'  says  he,  'and  your  own  notes 
furnish  themselves  the  most  decisive  proofs,  that  France, 
while  she  held  the  colony  of  Louisiana,  never  did  consi 
der  the  Mississippi  as  the  western  boundary  of  that  pro 
vince/  'She  always  claimed  the  territory  which  you 
call  Texas,  as  being  within  the  limits  and  forming  part 
of  Louisiana.'  Notwithstanding  these  solemn  declara 
tions,  it  was  thought  so  desirable,  in  the  general  dilapi 
dation  of  the  Spanish  monarchy,  to  prevent  the  transfer 
of  Florida  to  a  foreign  power,  that  on  the  22d  of  February, 
1819,  a  treaty  was  made  with  Old  Spain,  and  not  with 
Mexico,  by  which,  in  consideration  of  the  cession  of  Flo- 


306 

rida  to  the  United  States,  they  agreed  to  pay  five  millions 
of  dollars,  and  to  recognize  the  boundary  of  the  Sabine, 
which  both  parties  knew  was  not  the  real  boundary,  but 
only  a  conventional  line  for  the  occasion.  This  compro 
mise,  although  acquiesced  in  from  the  strong  desire  to 
possess  Florida,  satisfied  neither  political  party  in  the 
United  States.  Mr.  Clay  vehemently  denounced  it,  and 
he  introduced  into  the  house  of  representatives  a  decla 
ratory  resolution — 'That  the  equivalent  proposed  to  be 
given  by  Spain  to  the  United  States,  for  that  part  of 
Louisiana  lying  west  of  the  Sabine,  was  inadequate,  and 
that  it  would  be  inexpedient  to  make  a  transfer  thereof 
to  any  foreign  power.' 

"3d.  The  error  of  that  treaty  indeed  soon  became  ma 
nifest,  as  the  upper  regions  of  the  Mississippi  became 
settled — when  Texas  was  seen  stretching  its  broad  ex 
tent  between  the  Gulf  of  Mexico — and  Arkansas  and 
Missouri— and  all  the  future  states  to  the  Rocky  moun 
tains,  and  barring  against  the  United  States  the  best  outlet 
to  the  Pacific.  Accordingly,  Mr.  ADAMS,  the  same 
statesman  who  had  signed  the  treaty,  had  not  been  ele 
vated  to  the  presidency  more  than  a  few  days,  when 
almost  his  first  act  was  to  try  to  recover  and  bring  into 
the  union  this  very  same  country  of  Texas.  On  the  26th 
of  March,  1825,  his  secretary  of  state,  Mr.  Clay,  instructed 
Mr.  Poinsett,  the  American  minister  in  Mexico,  'that  the 
boundary  of  the  Sabine  was  too  near  the  United  States — 
that  a  change  was  desirable,  and  therefore,  the  president 
wishes  you  to  sound  it  (the  Mexican  government,)  on 
that  subject,  and  to  avail  yourself  of  a  favourable  dispo 
sition,  if  you  should  find  it,  to  effect  that  object.'  This 
overture  being  unsuccessful,  a  new  and  more  vigorous 
effort  was  made  on  the  15th  of  March  1827,  when  Mr. 
Clay  instructed  Mr.  Poinsett  to  propose  the  purchase  of 
the  whole  country  to  the  Rio  del  Norte,  being  the  present 
Texas.  'The  boundary'  says  he,  'which  we  prefer  is 
that  which  beginning  at  the  mouth  of  the  Rio  del  Norte 
in  the  sea,  shall  ascend  that  river,  thence  to  the  forty  se 
cond  degree  of  latitude,  and  by  that  degree  to  the  Pacific.' 
To  obtain  this,  'the  president  authorizes  you  to  offer  to 
the  government  of  Mexico,  a  sum  not  exceeding  one  mil- 


ROT 

lion  of  dollars ;'  and  farther,  'that  the  treaty  may  contain 
a  provision  similar  to  that  in  the  Louisiana  and  Florida 
treaties,  for  the  incorporation  of  the  inhabitants  into  the 
union,  as  soon  as  it  can  be  done  consistently  with  the 
principles  of  the  federal  constitution.' 

"4th.  The  same  efforts  made  by  Mr.  Adams,  were  pur 
sued  by  his  successor,  MR.  JACKSON,  who  in  the  first 
month  of  his  presidency,  took  measures  to  purchase 
Texas  and  bring  it  into  the  union.  Mr.  Van  Buren,  his 
secretary  of  state,  wrote  to  Mr.  Poinsett,  on  the  25th  of 
August,  1829.  'It  is  the  wish  of  the  president  that  you 
should  without  delay  open  a  negotiation  with  the  Mexi 
can  Government  for  so  much  of  the  province  of  Texas  as 
is  hereinafter  described,  or  for  such  part  as  they  may  be 
induced  to  cede  to  us.'  'The  territory'  he  adds,  'of  which 
a  cession  is  desired  by  the  United  States,  is  all  that  part 
of  the  province  of  Texas,  east  of  a  line  from  the  centre  of 
the  great  Prairie,  between  the  Nueces,  and  the  Rio  del 
Norte,  north  to  the  forty  second  degree  of  latitude,  where 
that  line  would  strike  our  present  boundary.'  For  this 
country,  which  you  perceive  is  much  less  than  that  asked 
for  by  Mr.  Adams,  which  went  at  once  to  the  Rio  del 
Norte,  he  was  authorized  to  give  a  sum  not  exceed 
ing  four  millions  of  dollars ;  'but  so  strong  are  the 
president's  convictions  of  its  great  value  to  the 
United  States,  that  he  will  not  object  if  you  should 
find  it  indispensably  necessary,  to  go  as  high  as  five 
millions.'  Mr.  Van  Buren  adds,  'The  treaty  may 
also  contain  a  provision  similar  to  that  in  the  Lou 
isiana  and  Florida  treaties  for  the  incorporation  of  the 
inhabitants  into  the  union,  as  soon  as  it  can  be  done  con 
sistently  with  the  principles  of  the  federal  constitution.' 
This  negotiation  being  abortive,  it  was  revived  .on  the 
4th  of  August,  1835,  when  Mr.  Forsyth,  the  secretary  of 
state,  instructed  Mr.  Butler,  the  representative  of  the 
United  States  in  Mexico,  to  negotiate  for  a  boundary 
'from  the  eastern  bank  of  the  Rio  del  Norte  to  the  thirty- 
seventh  degree  of  latitude,  thence  along  that  paralle  to 
the  Pacific,'— and  a  further  sum,  which  in  the  public 
despatches  is  of  course  left  in  blank,  w^as  placed  at  his 
disposal  in  addition  to  the  five  millions  previously  au- 


308 

thorized.  You  will  thus  perceive,  that  under  all  our  poli 
tical  parties,  a  constant  effort  has  been  made,  first,  to  re 
tain  Texas  as  belonging  to  the  union,  and  when  that  fail 
ed,  to  purchase  it  and  bring  it  into  the  union. 

"Now  as  to  its  present  state  and  prospects:     During 
these  negotiations  for  the  purchase  of  Texas,  the  inhabi 
tants  of  the  country  themselves,  over  whom  the  govern 
ment  of  Mexico  had,  in  the   progress  of  the  revolution, 
been  substituted  for  their  mother  country,  Spain,  deeming 
themselves  oppressed  by  this  Mexican  dominion,  revolted 
against  it — declared  their  independence,  and  finally  ex 
pelled  the  Mexican  armies  from  their  country.     Now  in 
that  civil  war,  as  in  all  other  civil  wars,  it  is  superfluous 
for  foreign   nations  to  inquire  which  side  was  right,  or 
which  wrong,  and  whether  the  alleged  causes  of  throw 
ing  off  the  Mexican  yoke  were  suflicient.     All  struggles 
for   a   change  of  government   are   mere  rebellions   until 
success  makes  them  revolutions,  and  the  causes  of  both 
must  forever  remain   in  the  debateable   land  of  history. 
It  is  too  late  to  discuss  the  merits  of  the  revolt  of  the 
Spaniards  against  the  Moors — the  revolt  of  the  Dutch 
against  the  Spaniards — the  revolt  of  the  English  against 
the  Stuarts — the  revolt  of  the  French  against  the  Bour 
bons — of    the   Americans    against   the    English — of  the 
Mexicans  against  the  Spaniards — or  now  of  the  Texans 
against  the  Mexicans.     The  question  after  all  is  a  mere 
question  of  fact.     Who    administers    the  government — 
Who  directs  the  physical  power  of  the  country?    Now  in 
the  case  of  Texas  we  have  all   the  elements  of  an  inde 
pendent  government.     An  executive,  legislative,  and  ju 
diciary  organization   after   the   best  models — a   military 
power — a  naval  power.     There  has  not  been   for  three 
years  a  hostile   Mexican  on   her  soil.     She  is  acknow 
ledged   by  her  nearest  and  strongest  neighbour — her  flag 
is  commercially  acknowledged  by  France  and  by  Eng 
land,  though  for   obvious   reasons  an    avowed   political 
recognition  of  a  recent  colony  is  delayed — and  I  have  no 
doubt  that  Mexico  herself  will  soon  do  as  Spain  did  with 
respect  to  Mexico,  yield  to  circumstances,  and  recognize 
the  independence  of  Texas,  whom  she  has  not  the  re 
motest  chance  of  conquering,  and  whose    hostility  she 
may  well  dread. 


309 

"One  of  the  earliest  acts  of  the  Texan  government  was 
a  proposal  to  join  the  United  States.  This  it  did,  not 
merely  from  a  natural  attachment  to  the  older  states 
from  which  the  Texans  had  emigrated,  but  because  they 
were  aware  how  constantly  that  annexation  had  been 
sought  by  the  states  themselves.  Fortunately  for  Texas- 
very  unwisely,  in  judgment  for  the  United  States,  the 
proposal  was  declined.  It  was  declined  in  one  of  those 
wild  paroxysms  of  public  excitement  to  which  all  free 
people  are  exposed.  Men's  minds  were  heated  with  the 
fierce  discussions  about  the  abolition  of  slavery,  and  they 
would  see  in  Texas  nothing  but  a  new  field  for  slavery — 
and  a  dangerous  increase  of  power  to  the  slave-holding 
states.  It  was  in  vain  to  say  that  Texas  could  not  pos 
sibly  add  a  single  slave  to  the  union— that  by  her  own 
constitution  she  had  prohibited  the  foreign  slave  trade, 
and  that  her  admission  into  the  union,  by  bringing  her 
under  our  own  laws  forbidding  the  slave  trade,  was  the 
most  effectual  mode  of  suppressing  that  trade — and  that, 
therefore,  her  only  influence  on  the  slave  question  would 
be,  to  weaken  the  evil  of  slavery  by  diffusing  it,  and  to 
furnish  an  out-let  for  the  black  population  of  the  Atlantic 
states,  so  as  to  relieve  them  gradually  from  their  slaves. 
Then  with  regard  to  political  power.  Both  Mr.  Adams' 
party  and  Mr.  Jackson's  party  had  endeavoured  to  bring 
Texas  into  the  union — had  agreed  to  stipulate  with  a 
foreign  power,  and  thus  pledge  irrevocably  the  public 
faith,  that  Texas  should  be  introduced  into  the  union  as 
Louisiana  was,  without  any  restriction  as  to  the  number 
of  states  into  which  she  should  be  divided,  or  the  number 
of  slaves  she  might  contain ;  and  she  asks  admission 
merely  as  a  single  state,  with  no  power  of  division  except 
what  may  be  allowed  by  a  majority  of  the  other  states. 
It  was  in  vain  to  say  all  this,  because  it  was  only  reason — 
and  the  question  was  to  be  decided  by  party  passions. 
The  result  was,  that  after  offering  five  millions  for  a  part 
of  Texas,  the  whole  came  to  us  for  nothing,  and  we  re 
fused  it — that  after  endeavouring  to  bring  it  into  the 
union  in  such  a  way  as  to  make  six  or  eight  slave-holding 
states,  we  declined  to  receive  it  even  as  a  single  indivi- 

27 


310 

dual  state.  These  caprices  of  our  legislation  I  mention, 
to  show  that  the  rejection  of  the  offer  had  no  relation 
whatever  to  the  character  or  condition  of  Texas,  but  was 
occasioned  by  causes  entirely  of  domestic  policy.  The 
effect,  however,  of  the  refusal  upon  Texas  herself,  is  to 
make  her  at  once  a  great  empire — leaving  her  resources 
under  her  own  control,  and  placing  her  in  a  position 
much  better  than  that  of  the  states  of  the  union.  For 
the  difference  between  them  is  this  :  The  old  states  who 
had  originally  their  own  lands  have  sold  them  all.  The 
new  states  being  formed  out  of  the  territory  belonging  to 
the  federal  government,  never  had  any  lands — and  as  both 
the  old  and  the  new  states  have  surrendered  their  whole 
power  over  commerce  to  the  federal  government,  they 
derive  no  revenue  whatever  from  the  exports  or  imports 
within  their  limits.  On  the  other  hand  the  government 
of  Texas  is  the  absolute  owner  of  the  whole  public  do 
main  within  its  borders — and  the  exclusive  receiver  of  all 
duties  on  exports  or  imports  which  it  may  choose  to  levy. 
She  is,  in  fact,  a  state  like  one  of  ours,  though  not  ac 
tually  in  the  union — but  with  all  the  social  and  political 
guarantees  which  a  state  can  offer.  She  is  not  a  state  in 
this  only,  that  she  has  a  national  domain  and  a  revenue 
power  which  no  state  in  the  union  possesses,  Look  at 
both  these  resources — and  first  of  the  lands.  She  has  a 
public  domain  estimated  at  from  100,000,000  to  150,000,- 
000  of  acres.  These,  I  understand,  are  for  the  most  part 
cotton-lands,  richer  than  the  cotton-lands  of  any  of  our 
cotton-growing  states,  destined  to  be  covered  with  the 
cotton  plant  and  sugar  cane,  and  offering  the  attraction 
rarely  combined  of  an  exuberant  soil,  &c.  a  healthy  cli 
mate,  with  a  great  variety  of  products  to  tempt  the  ad 
venturous  industry  of  our  people.  My  impression,  too, 
is  that  as  there  lies  on  the  east  of  the  Rocky  Mountains 
an  immense  region  where  the  cultivation  of  the  soil  is 
very  difficult  and  unproductive,  the  stream  of  population, 
instead  of  going  directly  across  those  mountains,  will 
turn  to  the  south  of  them — and  that  the  great  route  to 
the  Pacific,  the  only  resting  place  of  our  people,  will  be 
along  the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  through  the  lower  south-west 
ern  states  and  Texas.  The  effect  will  be  to  give  a  con- 


311 

slant  increase  to  the  value  of  the  lands  in  Texas— so  that 
these  100,000,000  or  150,000,000  of  acres  of  land  must 
be  considered  as  synonymous  with  at  least  as  many  dol 
lars.  The  public  lands  in  Mississippi,  often  less  valuable 
than  those  of  Texas,  sold  at  public  auction,  three  years 
ago,  for  $5,  or  $10,  or  even  more  an  acre,  while  the 
government  minimum  price  was  $1  25. 

"Then,  as  to  the  duties.  The  crowded  population  of  a 
country  disinclined  to  manufacture,  will  require  large 
importations  of  foreign  goods.  Their  abundant  exports 
will  furnish  the  means  of  paying  for  them, — and  the  du 
ties  on  commerce,  though  fixed  at  a  very  low  rate,  as 
from  policy  they  would  naturally  be,  cannot  fail  to«yield 
an  abundant  revenue.  Here  then  is  a  country,  for  a  part 
only  of  which  the  United  States  offered  $5,000,000  ten 
years  ago, — a  country  without  any  debt — with  an  eco 
nomical  government — with  a  public  domain  of  at^least 
100,000,000  of  acres,  and  an  unlimited  revenue  from 
customs.  Nor  is  their  disposition  to  pay  less  than  their 
ability.  You  have  heard  in  Europe  as  we  have  heard  in 
America,  a  thousand  wild  stories  about  Texas.  But  all 
the  new  states  have  had  in  their  turn  to  run  this  gauntlet 
of  prejudice — the  youngest  state,  like  the  youngest  pupil 
at  college,  being  obliged  to  bear  the  jokes  and  taunts  of 
his  seniors.  But  those  who  administer  the  affairs  of  the 
new  commonwealth,  are  highly  respectable  gentlemen, 
who  have  been  in  the  public  employ  of  their  native  states, 
and  have  carried  with  them  those  deep-rooted  opinions 
of  the  sanctity  of  contracts  and  the  value  of  public  faith 
which  characterize  all  the  states  of  the  union." 

The  letter  of  Dr.  Hare  to  Dr.  Channing,  also  alluded 
to  in  the  above  remarks,  we  now  give.  It  reads  thus: 

"To  THE  REV.  DR.  CHANNING: 

"My  dear  sir : — About  the  beginning  of  this  month  I  received 
your  kind  letter,  and  your  well  written  pamphlet,  respecting  the 
annexation  of  Texas  to  the  United  States.  I  should  be  willing, 
agreeably  to  your  suggestion,  to  join  with  my  townsmen  in  a  meet 
ing  for  the  purpose  of  deprecating  such  a  connection  with  that 
country.  But,  on  the  other  hand,  I  am  not  insensible  to  the  dis 
advantage  of  having  an  independent  sovereignty  so  near  to  us,  and 
should  not  be  surprised,  allowing  for  the  usual  diversity  of  human 
opinion  if  some  of  my  fellow-citizens  should  consider  the  evils  ot 


til 

the  test?  of  the  two.  I  mnrave,  however,  that  against 
annexation  of  Texas  it  may  verr  justlv  be  urged,  by  the  states 

which  shvery  is  not  permitted,  that  although  tlu  rfutty 

tting  to  abide  by  their  agreement  with  their  o&  confederates, 
that  three-fifths  of  the  slave  pnymliltnm  shall  be  KfMtoented.  they 
mre  not  willing  *>  admit  MM*  confederates  upon  these  tvnditiottSk 
imstemd  of  seeking  to  benefit  Texas.,  by  admitting  that  republic  into 
the  union,  I  should  wish  to  see  the  United  States  step  torward  as 
%  mediator  between  that  country  and  Mexico,  and  thus  to  avert 
the  evik  of  a  continued  war. 

"By  a  few  uiittioas,  probably,  especially  should  the  payment  be 
guarantied  by  the  United  Stated  the  Texans  could  purchase  a  re 
cognition  of  their  sovereknty.  The  funds  could  te  obtained  in 
Engbnd.  to  be  paid  in  that  country  bv  Texan  produce,  and  in 
Mexkv  in  British  manu&cuures ;  no  dnmihrmmtage  which  the  United 
Steles  could  suffer  as  security  for  the  debt,  would  be  equal  to  those 
vising  from  a  enalWiqw*  of  war  in  their  vicinity.  If  such  aa 
aynangement  could  he  mfcujl  into  by  a  compromtse.  as  a  conside- 
tation  tor  me  abandojouent  of  the  scheme  of  ann^Tafton»  no  doubt 
uU  have  many  warm  advocates. 

-1  do  mot  concur  widi  you  in  thmHng  the  resistance  of  the 
Texans  to  Santa  Anna  a$  unjustifiabte.  They  had  settkxi  in  Texas 
with  the  understanding  tint  they  were  to  be  K»drr  a  ft&nrf  1^9^ 
cmMiMl.  It  follows,  in  my  opinion>  that  when  Santa  Anna  usurp 
ed  the  control  of  the  whoie  country .  and  endeavoured  to  establish 
a  consolidated  geienanent,  the  Texans  were  no  longer  held  if 
Aeir  engagements — the  breach  of  covenant  was  on  the  aide  of  the 
gowmment  of  Mexico,  mot  on  AMIS.  Having  deposed  Iturtede 
under  the  banner  of  liberty,  Santa  Anna  endeavoured  afterwards 
lo  establish  a  descode  authority  far  himself.  Of  course  he  was 
an  hypocrite  as  well  as  mm  usurper.  It  appears  to  me  the  Texans 
had  beem  unwise  lo  have  submitted  to  him.  Thev  mi^hu  like  the 
Greek  sutgeets  of  the  Ottoman  empire,  ere  k>&£  have  had  to  pay 
1  tir  fni  •  i  iiiui  lUf  II  lirxti 

ither  ^wWK^or  u  •••  imlitrn  on  be  fairly  ju^ed  by  an 
•fatriKl  ifMidirrf  qf  r%^l.    It  can  hardly  be  urged  against  a 
munity  mat  thej  are  not  more  correct  than  any  other  comm . 
No  one  can,  more  than  I,  abhor  the  principle  so  often  painfully 
acted  om,  that  nught  gives  r^ht.    But  the  ri^it  of  conquest  being 
llnnrt  universaibr  the  basis  oi^xisting  national  sovete%pty,  ii" the 
oceupmtiom  of  the  wilds  of  Texas  add  another  instance  of  tne  cata- 
,  it  appears  on  various  accounts  one  of  Aft  least  blamable 


om  record.  Invading  a  thickly  settled  country,  already  cukivato 
and  enriched  by  the  labours  of  miitmt  proprietors .  is  evidently 
m  nu  greater  wrong,  mud  requires,  on  the  part  of  the  invader,  a  far 
harder  heart  than  taking  possession  of  m  country  in  an  unsettled 

"Besides^  if  wrong  has  been  dome  in  the  occupttion  of  T 

•.:    .;.>  :•--.  /:—  ::  :J.:   A:-;-  .  •-;>.  v.:  :.   :       >:'.-  ^  •.  .V.v.      .;;..-.> 
w...   „-;-,-;:  ^iJ.  .;  ..  ;  -. ; .;  ,..:  :  ^  ..  ;:'  ;  :.-.:--,v..;-  '  ' 


313 

was  the  abode  of  the  last  mentioned  race,  it  does  not  appear  that 
they  were  desirous  of  submitting  to  Santa  Anna.  But  admitting 
that  these  Texan.s  are  invaders,  not  iustifiabJ< 
who  are  not  now  enjoying  the  fruit  of  similar  wrongs  cast  on  them 
reproach.  Is  there  any  nation  in  Christendom  of  which  me  ter 
ritory  is  not  due  to  the  right  of  conquest?  Can  the  people  of  the 
United  States,  or  the  descendants  of  Pizarro  or  Cortes,  complain 
with  justice  of  the  Texans  ?  Let  the  clemency  shown  to  the 
butchering  army  of  Santa  Anna  and  its  bloodthirsty  leader  be 
contrasted  with  the  sanguinary  career  of  the  conquerors  of  Peru 
and  Mexico.  In  the  former  instance  we  see  clemency  towards  a 
most  cruel  enemy ;  in  the  latter,  kindness  and  hospitality  were 
repaid  with  slaughter,  persecution,  and  ignominious  slavery. 

"To  an  anarchical  government  there  can  be  no  moral  tie.  Alle 
giance  and  protection  being  inseparable,  the  cessation  of  me  one 
terminates  the  other.  The  dependence  of  one  province  upon  others 
always  lias  been,  and  must  be,  a  mere  question  of  expediency. 
The  first  question  will  be,  is  separation  desirable  ?  The  next,  is  it 
practicable  ?  or  will  the  cost,  in  blood  and  treasure,  be  too  great 
to  make  it  expedient  to  attempt  a  secession. 

"It  is  not  improbable  that  a  desire  to  employ  slave  labour,  with 
out  which  they  could  not  expect  the  emigration  of  men  of  pro 
perty  from  the  neighboring  states,  may  have  been  one  of  the  mo 
tives  for  their  efforts  to  obtain  independence ;  but  if  there  were 
otherwise  a  sufficient  incentive  to  the  change,  would  it  be  charita 
ble  to  put  the  worst  construction  on  their  conduct  of  which  the 
case  admits?  I  fully  concur  with  you  that  slavery  ought  not  to 
be  countenanced  by  the  individual,  unless  under  the  fielief  that 
the  general  welfare  of  the  community  in  which  it  exists,  taking 
both  the  slave  and  the  master  into  view,  require  its  continuance. 
But,  while  coinciding  in  this  opinion,  I  have  never  been  able  to 
imagine  any  practicable  plan  for  emancipation  in  our  southern 
states.  If  any  such  plan  has  been  devised,  I  have  never  heard  of 
it.  The  beneficial  result  of  that  resorted  to  by  Great  Britain  a 
still  contested.  Were  all  the  whites  in  the  dove  *tat&  removed,  the 
blacks  remaining  their  own  master*,  I  believe  that  within  a  few  yean 
they  would  be  found  less  happy  than  at  present.  Such  has  been  the 
consequence  of  the  extirpation  of  the  whites  in  Hayti.  I  believe 
that  the  whites  could  exist  better  without  them,  than  they  could 
without  the  whites.  But  if,  agreeably  to  the  opinion  of  the  philan 
thropists,  whose  pecuniary  interests  and  personal  safety  are  not 
to  be  hazarded  by  the  innovation, a  feasible  plan  of  abohtioncould 
be  devised,  how  could  it  be  executed  ?  Evidently  it  must  be  ac 
complished  in  one  of  two  ways — either  with  the  consent  and  co 
operation  of  the  communities  within  whose  sovereignty  it  prevails, 
or  by  civil  war.  The  latter  would  be  deprecated  by  every  ft 
Christian  and  virtuous  friend  of  abolition.  To  countenan 
measures  pregnant  with  the  horrors  of  anarchy  and  msurre 
is  evidently  inconsistent  with  religion  or  philanthropy.  It  follows 
that  the  heads  and  hearts  of  the  slaveholders  are  the  only  tribunal 
27* 


314 

to  which  an  appeal  can  be  made,  and  to  this  you  appeal  with  elo 
quence  and  zeal ;  and  I  presume  would  not  make  the  effort  unless 
you  entertained  some  hope  of  success.  In  the  indulgence  of  this 
hope  I  cannot  join  with  you.  I  believe  that  our  SOUTHERN  PLANT 
ERS  are  generally  a  kind  hearted,  hospitable,  hrave,  and  magnani 
mous  race  of  men ;  still  as  they  are  not  above  human  nature,  I 
should  be  hopeless  of  an  appeal  to  them  on  a  question  respecting 
which  they  deny  our  right  or  ability  to  judge  for  them,  and  which 
they  conceive  to  hazard  by  its  disturbance,  not  only  the  means  fby 
which  they  do  live/  but  the  personal  safety  of  themselves  and  all 
those  whom  they  hold  dear.  Before  I  could  feel  warranted  in  med 
dling  with  the  municipal  regulations  of  any  country,  I  must  be 
convinced  that  my  interference  will  not  do  mischief  instead  of 
good;  and  that  I  have  both  a  moral  and  constitutional  right  to 
move  in  the  affairs  in  point.  But  were  it,  in  my  opinion,  neither 
immoral  nor  illegal  to  interfere,  I  should  deem  it  incumbent  on  me 
to  perform  all  those  duties  which  are  unquestionable,  and  within 
my  immediate  control,  in  the  first  place,  and  then  to  give  attention 
to  such  as  are  less  obligatory,  and  beyond  my  reach.  While  it 
pleases  the  Deity  to  allow  certain  evils,  it  is  vain  for  man  to  put 
forth  his  puny  might. 

"Faithfully,  your  friend, 

"ROBERT  HARE. 
"To  the  Rev.  Dr.  Charming.'1 

We  cannot  forbear  giving  our  readers  some  of  the 
pithy,  though  plain,  yet  appropriate  and  judicious  remarks 
of  Gen.  Foote  on  these  letters,  in  connection  with  the 
course  of  some  on  this  subject.  They  may  seem  to  many 
too  severe,  but  let  it  be  remembered  that  abolitionism  is 
a  desperate,  a  pestilential  disease,  that  must  necessarily 
require  a  desperate  remedy.  Gen.  Foote  says : — "Rea 
der,  this  is  the  same  Mr.  Adams  who  is  now  striving, 
not  'to  bring  into  the  union  this  same  country  of  Texas,' 
but  to  keep  it  out  of  the  union,  by  vehement  agitation,  in 
congress  and  out  of  it.  This  is  the  same  statesman  who, 
in  1827,  as  Mr.  Biddle,  without  the  least  hostile  intent 
towards  his  friend  Mr,  Adams,  incidentally  shows,  au 
thorized  Mr.  Clay  to  instruct  Mr.  Poinsett  to  'propose 
the  purchase  of  the  whole  country  to  the  Rio  del  Norte, 
being  the  present  Texas.'  This  is  the  same  statesman 
under  whose  direction  Mr.  Clay  then  said  to  Mr.  Poin 
sett  :  'The  president  authorizes  you  to  offer  to  the  gov 
ernment  of  Mexico,  a  sum  not  exceeding  one  million  of 
dollars/  for  this  identical  Texas.  This  is  the  same  states- 


315 

man  at  whose  instance,  too,  Mr.  Clay  said  to  Mr.  Poin- 
sett:  'The  treaty  may  contain  a  provision  similar  to  that 
in  the  Louisiana  and  Florida  treaties,  for  the  incorpora 
tion  of  the  inhabitants  into  the  union,  as  soon  as  it  can  be 
done  consistently  with  the  principles  of  the  federal  con 
stitution. 

"Well  may  Mr.  Biddle  say,  as  he  does  in  his  letter : 
'Both  parties,  Mr.  Adams'  and  Mr.  Jackson's  party,  had 
agreed  to  stipulate  with  a  foreign  power,  and  thus  pledge 
irrevocably  the  public  faith  that  Texas  should  be  intro 
duced  into  the  union,  as  Louisiana  was,  without  any  re 
striction  as  to  the  number  of  states  into  which  she  was 
divided,  or  the  number  of  slaves  she  might  contain,  and 
now,  when  she  asked  admission  as  a  single  state,  the  re 
sult  was,  that  after  offering  four  millions  for  a  part  of 
Texas,  the  whole  came  to  us  for  nothing,  and  we  refused 
it ; — that  after  endeavouring  to  bring  it  into  the  union  in 
such  a  way  as  to  make  six  or  eight  slave-holding  states, 
we  declined  to  receive  it  as  a  single  individual  state." 

"It  would  be  unbecoming  a  southern  man  to  urge  that 
the  veteran  politician  of  Quincy,  (certainly  without  the 
least  design,)  inflicted  serious  injury  upon  the  abolition 
cause  by  refusing  to  throw  the  banner  of  the  union  over 
Texas  four  years  ago ;  since,  had  Texas  been  admitted 
then  as  a  single  state,  she  would  have  been,  according  to 
the  views  of  some,  within  the  constitutional  range  of  that 
terrible  abolition  artillery,  whose  missiles  are  constantly 
flying  in  all  directions  over  the  republic :  let  this  matter 
be  settled  among  those  interested.  But  I  may  be  permit 
ted  here  to  suggest,  that  it  is  one  of  the  most  surprising 
facts  that  has  occurred  in  American  history,  that  a  pre 
sident  of  the  United  States  (Mr.  Adams)  should  in  1827, 
have  agreed  to  the  admission  of  the  region,  called  Texas, 
into  the  union  (in  the  words  of  Mr.  Biddle)  <as  Louisiana 
was  :'  and  yet  the  same  gentleman  should,  under  the  in 
fluence  of  that  chimera,  which  seems  to  have  continually 
haunted  his  imagination,  as  to  the  growing  power  of 
south  and  west,  for  more  than  twenty  years  past,  have 
spoke  as  he  did  of  this  same  purchase  of  Louisiana,  and 
of  Mr.  Jefferson,  the  purchaser,  <in  the  year  1839,  n 
Jubilee  Speech,  at  New  York/  I  will  ofter  no  observa- 


316 

lions  on  the  glaring  inconsistency  there  unfolded  to  view; 
I  shall  say  not  a  word  in  defence  of  the  illustrious  dead 
from  the  ill-natured  assailment  of  an  individual  who, 
while  Mr.  Jefferson  lived,  was  professedly  his  devoted 
friend  and  enthusiastic  admirer;  but  one  fact  is  certain, 
that  until  Mr.  Adams  shall  emerge  from  the  predicament 
in  which  he  stands  of  having  deliberately  sanctioned  what 
he  denominated  'a  flagrant  violation  of  the  constitution,' 
a  'pernicious  and  corrupting  example  of  an  undissembled, 
admitted  prostration  of  the  constitution/  Texas  will  have 
but  little  to  fear  from  his  hostility,  however  may  be  his 
endeavours  to  injure  her,  and  to  persuade  the  poor  old 
ladies  of  his  vicinage  to  get  up  petitions  upon  which  to 
harangue  the  house  of  representatives,  and  to  harass  the 
peace  of  the  republic. 

"Twenty  years  hence,  when  ex-president  Adams,  shall 
have  found  commune  with  his  reverend  ancestors,  beyond 
the  visible  firmament,  the  friends  of  Texas  and  the  Tex- 
ans  will,  in  all  probability  be  heard  to  recite  the  language 
of  his  own  jubilee  oration,  applying  it  to  him  and  his 
huge  budget  of  petitions,  saying :  "upon  the  opening  of 
Pandora's  box.  Hope  was  left  behind.  Hitherto  no  seed 
of  deadly  aconite  has  generated  into  pestilential  poison ;" 
and  I  rejoice  to  know  that  Mr.  Adams'  jubilee  oration  of 
one  hundred  and  twenty  pages,  all  drawn  up  for  the  pur 
pose  of  showing  that  the  states  were  never  sovereign,  and 
that  the  federal  constitution  had  derived  its  validity  and 
binding  force  alone  from  the  people  of  the  union  as  a 
consolidated  mass,  was,  four  days  ago,  completely  coun 
teracted  by  a  single  sentence  which  fell  from  the  lips  of  a 
true  disciple  of  Thomas  Jefferson, — a  man  beloved  and 
admired,  and  confided  in,  by  good  men  and  true  of  all 
parties,  JOHN  TYLER  of  Virginia,  who,  on  taking  the 
oath  of  office  as  second  officer  of  this  great  republic,  in 
his  address  to  the  senate,  among  other  truths,  said :  uhere 
are  to  be  found  the  immediate  representatives  of  the 
states,  by  whose  sovereign  will  the  government  has  been 
spoken  into  existence." 

Many  of  the  remarks  of  General  Foote  respecting  Mr. 
Adams,  are  equally  applicable  to  Dr.  Channing,  and  it  is 
a  remarkable  fact,  that  with  the  assistance  of  Mr.  Biddle 


317 

and  Professor  Hare,  he  has  absolutely  answered  the 
most  material  parts  of  Dr.  C's.  last  book,  on  slavery,  so 
far  as  Texas  is  concerned.  We  say  slavery,  for  after  all, 
slavery  is  its  basis,  slavery  its  subject,  and  to  promote 
abolitionism  its  great  object.  This  being  the  case  we 
humbly  conceive  that  in  our  investigation  of  it,  we  have 
at  least  with  the  aids  which  we  have  called  in,  answered 
most  if  not  all  of  the  material  points  in  this  subject,  and 
according  to  promise,  have  examined  Dr.  C's  three 
tracts. 

We  here  solemnly  declare  to  our  readers  and  the  pub 
lic,  that  we  have  no  political  object  in  view,  and  have 
strove  to  avoid  any  party  or  political  cast  which  this 
subject  would,  almost  necessarily,  force  us  to  assume. 
We  go  for  our  country,  for  this  union  of  states,  a  union 
upon  that  foundation  which  our  brave  and  patriotic 
fathers,  with  WASHINGTON  at  their  head,  laid,  to  secure  its 
permanency  and  future  glory.  We  have  not  noticed  nor 
shall  we,  Dr.  Channing's  argument  founded  on  the  crimi 
nality  of  resistance  to  the  Mexican  government  by  Texas. 
As  Mr.  Biddle  has  suggested  what  he  says  respecting 
this,  would  be  equally  applicable  to  that  resistance  which 
in  revolutionary  times,  these  United  States  made  to  the 
government  of  Great  Britain.  We  cannot,  however,  for 
bear  asking  the  doctor  if  it  be  so  iniquitous  for  Texas  to 
resist  the  Mexican  government,  is  there  no  iniquity  in 
abolitionists,  with  Dr.  Channing  at  their  head,  resisting 
the  constitution  and  laws  of  these  United  States,  by  pub 
licly  proclaiming  to  heaven  and  earth  that  they  are 
"bound"  on  the  subject  of  slavery  "by  no  law,"  and  that 
resistance  to  abolitionism  "will  ultimately  demand  the 
separation  of  the  states."  And  that  they  do  not  desire  to 
live  under  the  laws  and  government  of  a  country  admit 
ting  such  a  principle,  that  resistance  is  meretorious  and 
to  be  neutral  a  crime.  So  far  as  we  are  personally  con 
cerned  we  take  nothing  that  Dr.  C.  has  said  to  ourselves. 
We  have  long  since  learned  'not  to  wear  a  cap  which 
does  not  fit  us.'  If  Dr.  C.  had  offended  us  personally, 
we  trust  there  is  a  charity  to  cover  every  fault,  and  a 
heart  to  forgive  every  wrong.  But  the  attack  is  one 
upon  our  country,  on  Virginia,  the  state  that  gave  us 


318 

birth,  of  all  others  dearest  to  us.  It  is  one  published  to 
the  world, — it  is  one  that  opens  to  every  man  a  door  for 
a  plain,  pointed  and  frank  expression  of  his  opinion,  and 
we  believe  that  it  is  a  direct  attack,  not  only  on  all  the 
slave-holding  states,  but  on  every  lover  of  the  union 
throughout  these  United  States.  We  have  spoken  plainly 
and  with  frankness.  We  intended  to  do  so.  Some  of 
our  expressions  may  be  considered  harsh,  we  know  not 
how  to  sweeten,  as  some  do,  a  bitter  pill.  Perhaps  we 
are  naturally  tart;  but  we  are  willing  to  submit  what  we 
have  here  written  to  the  judgment  of  the  candid  and  con 
siderate  (abolitionists  of  course  excepted,)  of  every  name, 
of  every  sect  and  party,  whether  in  religion  or  politics, 
north  or  south,  and  let  them  compare  our  bitterest  ex 
pressions  with  some  of  the  ungenerous,  and  cutting,  and 
uncharitable  remarks  of  Dr.  C.  We  do  not  dread  the 
issue  when  patiently  heard,  though  that  hearing  be  had  in 
the  land  of  the  pilgrims.  The  sons  of  New  England  we 
do  believe,  will  frown  into  the  dust,  by  nine  out  of  ten, 
any  attempt,  though  made  by  the  learned  Dr.  C.  and 
Judge  Jay,  to  dissolve  our  UNION,  and  destroy  this 
REPUBLIC. 


PART      IX 


AN  APPEAL  TO  THE  NORTH  AND  THE  SOUTH,  WITH  SOME  OJ - 
SERVATIONS  ON  CLARKSONJS  LETTER  TO  THE  CLERGY  OF 
THE  SLAVE-HOLDING  STATES.  A  NOTICE  OF  THE  EXCEL 
LENT  SPEECH  OF  THE  HON.  ROBERT  J.  WALKER  BEFORE 
THE  SUPREME  COURT  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES,  AND  SOME 
QUOTATIONS  FROM  IT.  CONCLUDING  REMARKS. 

THINK  not  friends  and  fellow-citizens  of  the  north  and 
the  east,  that  any  remarks  which  have  been  made  in  the 
foregoing  pages,  are  intended  to  wound  and  insult  you. 
We  have  been  trained  by  a  father  whose  name  is  now 
written  in  the  dust,  to  deal  frankly  and  candidly  with  all 
men.     In  the  exercise  of  our  own  independence,  a  right  in 
which  you  rejoice,  we  have  honestly  expressed  our  views. 
If  in  doing  this,  if  by  any  quotations  we  have  made  we 
wound  any,  rest  assured  it  has  not  been  because  that  we 
delight  to  do  so  and  none  can  lament  it  more  than  we. 
But  in  the  defence  of  that  condition  in  which  the  south 
has  been  placed  by  circumstances  over  which  she  had  no 
control  originally,   and  even  now   cannot  control  as  it 
would,  we  have  spoken  our  opinions  plainly  and  openly. 
The  slaves  are  here,  they  are  in  our  midst,  they  were 
forced  on  the  south  :   with  a  perfect  knowledge  of  these 
facts,   your  fathers  entered  into  a  solemn  covenant  with 
ours,  and  will  you  upturn  the  whole  when  you  cannot 
better  the  condition  of  the  slaves,  and  by  so  doing   may 
involve  them  and  perhaps  us,  your  fellow-citizens  in  a 
destruction  that  shall  be  complete?     Do  you  know  that 
the  first  attempt  of  this  kind,  the  first  blow  that  shall  ever 
be   struck,  will  be  but  the  signal,  that  shall  bring  death 
and  ruin  on  the  colored  race,  from  the   Potomac  to  the 


320 

Gulf  of  Mexico  ?  You  must  not  think  that  the  south 
ern  states  are  disposed  to  encourage  the  trade  in  slaves. 
They,  with  but  few  exceptions,  are  averse  to  it.  In  their 
collective  and  legislative  as  well  as  their  individual  capa 
city  they  have  resisted  it  to  the  utmost.  They  have  been 
as  we  have  shown,  before  the  north  in  resistance  to  the 
slave  trade.  This  is  a  well  attested  fact. 

Some  time  last  spring  there  came  up  a  case  before  the 
Supreme  Court  of  the  United   States,  commonly  called 
the  Mississippi  slave  case,  entitled  in  the  records  of  the 
court,  "Groves  et  al.  v.  Slaughter,'5  "involving  the  power 
of  congress  and  the  states  to  prohibit  the  inter-state  slave 
trade."    This  case  was  argued  elaborately  on  both  sides, 
and  excited  great  interest  in  all,  as  in  it  was  involved  a 
most    interesting    constitutional    question.      ROBERT   J. 
WALKER,  Esq.  one  of  the   United   States'  senators  for 
Mississippi,  appeared  and  answered  as  the  attorney  for 
Mr.  Groves,  one  of  the  defendants.     Mr.  Walker  is  not 
only   a  distinguished   senator,  but  from  what  we  have 
heard  in  Washington  of  this  speech  for  the  defendant,  and 
from  the  speech  itself,  we  gather  that  he  is  also  a  dis 
tinguished  jurist.     The  legal  and  historical  information, 
the  eloquent  appeals,  and  the  powerful  reasonings  of  this 
speech,  we  must  frankly  confess,  have  completely  capti 
vated  us,  and  will  doubtless  interest  all.     We  commend 
it  to  your  perusal.     Born  and  educated,  (as  we  are  in 
formed,)  in  one  of  the  free  states,  now  an  adopted  son  of 
Mississippi,  whom  she  delights  to   honour,   such   argu 
ments  and  such  appeals  as  are  to  be  found  in  that  speech 
must  necessarily  have  a  most  powerful  influence  both  at 
home  and  abroad.     From  it  we  cannot  forego  the  plea 
sure  of  making  some  quotations,  and  of  placing  them, 
fellow-citizens  of  the  north  and  east,  before  you,  as  a 
true  specimen  of  southern  feeling  on  this  delicate  subject. 
Before  we  could  procure  a  copy  thereof,  we  had   fin 
ished  our  inquiry  and   examination.     We  should    have 
been  truly  gratified  to  have  had  access  to  it  in  time  to 
have  made  many  extracts  from  various  parts  of  it.     We 
must,  however,  content  ourselves  with  the  selection  of  a 
few  portions  thereof,  and  of  placing  them  before  you  as 
a  part  of  our  appeal.    This  we  do  without  the  knowledge 


321 

of  Mr.  Walker,  and  without  the  opportunity  of  asking 
his  consent.  For  this  liberty  we  hope  to  be  pardoned, 
and  also  for  the  naming  him,  comparatively  a  stranger  to 
us,  we  hope  to  find  as  we  believe  we  shall,  an  ample 
apology  in  his  kindness.  Convinced  that  Mr.  Walker 
ardently  and  anxiously  wishes  the  perpetuity  and  welfare 
of  this  union,  we  know  he  cannot,  he  will  not,  object  to  the 
use  of  any  portion  of  his  speech,  to  aid  in  the  accomplish 
ment  of  an  end  that  is  so  desirable. 

After  giving  a  lucid  exposition  of  the  constitution  and 
law,  and  illustrating  the  true  meaning  and  force  of  va 
rious  cases  which  have  come  up  before  the  Supreme 
Court  of  the  United  States,  and  those  of  individual  slates, 
Mr.  Walker  remarks  thus,  upon  the  decisions  of  the  High 
Court  of  Errors  and  Appeals  of  the  state  of  Mississippi, 
on  the  subject  of  this  inter-state  slave  trade,  and  upon 
that  of  slavery  in  the  south  in  general. 

"I  approach  now  the  final  question  raised  by  our  op 
ponents  in  their  printed  brief,  as  follows :  'But*  assuming 
that  the  constitution  of  Mississippi  does  not  contain  a 
clear  and  incontestible  prohibition  of  the  introduction  of 
slaves,  as  merchandize,  within  its  limits — then  there  re 
mains,  in  the  last  place,  to  be  considered  fourthly,  a  grave 
and  important  question,  which  this  court  will  have  to 
decide;  and  that  is,  whether  it  is  competent  to  any  state 
in  the  union,  by  its  separate  authority,  either  in  its  con 
stitution  or  its  laws,  to  regulate  commerce  among  the 
several  states,  by  enacting  and  enforcing  such  a  prohibi 
tion?  The  constitution  of  the  United  States  vests  in 
congress  the  power  'to  regulate  commerce  with  foreign 
nations,  and  among  the  several  states,  and  with  the  In 
dian  tribes.'  The  power  must  be  regarded  as  exclusively 
possessed  by  congress.  The  municipal  laws  of  a  state 
may,  perhaps,  decide  what  shall  be  the  subjects  of  pro 
perty;  but  when  they  have  so  decided,  when  they  have 
stamped  the  character  of  property  on  any  particular 
movables,  they  cannot  interdict  the  removal  of  similar 
movables  as  merchandize,  from  any  other  state,  whose 
laws  also  recognize  them  as  property.  Such  an  interdic 
tion  would  be  a  regulation  of  commerce  among  the 
28 


322 

states ;  and  if  a  state  can  make  it,  it  may  prohibit  the 
introduction  of  any  produce  from  another  state.  South 
Carolina  may  prohibit  the  introduction  of  live  stock  from 
Kentucky,  and  Kentucky  may  prohibit  the  introduction 
within  her  limits,  of  the  cotton  or  rice  of  South  Carolina. 
It  is  not  intended  to  argue  that  a  state,  which  does  not 
tolerate  slavery,  is  bound  to  admit  the  introduction  of 
slaves,  to  be  held  as  property,  within  its  limits;  and  the 
reason  for  excluding  them  is,  that,  by  the  laws  of  the 
free  states,  slaves  cannot  be  held  in  bondage.  The  case 
before  the  court  is,  that  of  the  transportation  of  slaves 
from  one  slave  state  to  another  slave  state.'  I  concur 
with  our  opponents,  that  this  is  indeed,  'a  grave  and  im 
portant  question ;'  the  most  so,  in  my  judgment,  which 
has  ever  been  brought  up  for  the  determination  of  this 
court.  The  power  to  regulate  commerce  among  the 
states  is  'supreme  and  exclusive/  it  is  vested  in  congress 
alone,  and  if  under  it,  congress  may  forbid  or  authorize 
the  transportation  of  slaves  from  state  to  state,  in  defiance 
of  state  authority,  then  indeed,  we  shall  have  reached  a 
crisis  in  the  abolition  controversy,  most  alarming  and 
momentous. 

"In  their  petitions  to  congress  by  the  abolitionists,  they 
assert  the  power  here  claimed,  and  call  upon  that  body 
to  exercise  it  by  legislative  enactments,  in  regard  to  the 
sale  and  transportation  of  slaves  from  state  to  state. 
These  petitions  have  been  repeatedly  rejected  or  laid  on 
the  table,  as  seeking  an  object  beyond  the  constitutional 
power  of  congress,  by  overwhelming  majorities  of  both 
houses;  but  if  this  court,  as  the  interpreter  of  the  consti 
tution  of  the  union,  in  the  last  resort,  now  inform  congress 
that  this  power  is  vested  in  congress  alone,  no  one  can 
predict  the  consequences.  Let  it  be  observed,  also,  that 
whilst  all  these  laws  of  all  the  slave-holding  states  on 
this  subject  are  asked  to  be  pronounced  unconstitutional, 
the  laws  on  the  same  subject,  of  the  'free  states,'  as  they 
are  designated  by  our  opponents,  are  sought  to  be  placed 
above  the  power  of  congress  on  this  question.  A  dis 
tinction  is  thus  directly  made,  by  our  opponents,  between 
the  'free  states'  and  the  'slave  states,'  as  contradistin 
guished  in  their  brief  on  this  question ;  and  the  'free 


323 

states  are  asked  to  be  regarded  as  sovereign,  and  the 
'slave  states'  as  subject  states,  upon  all  the  points  involved 
in  this  controversy.  Thus  it  follows,  that  the  contract 
sought  to  be  enforced  in  this  case,  could  not  be  enforced 
if  made  in  Massachusetts,  because  prohibited  by  her  con 
stitution  ;  but  that  the  same  identical  contract  can  be  en 
forced  if  made  in  the  state  of  Mississippi,  although  ex 
pressly  prohibited  by  the  constitution  of  that  state.  Mas 
sachusetts,  then,  possesses  sovereign  and  absolute  power 
over  this  subject,  and  Mississippi  no  power  whatever. 

"The  constitution  is  then  to  have  the  same  uniform 
effect  throughout  all  the  states,  as  regards  the  supreme 
and  exclusive  power  of  congress  to  regulate  commerce 
among  the  states ;  but  this  power  is  to  range  undisturbed 
throughout  all  the  'slave  states,'  striking  down  all  their 
laws  and  constitutions  on  this  subject,  whilst  the  same 
power  is  arrested  at  the  limits  of  each  one  of  the  'free 
states,'  of  this  union.  Such  is  the  degrading  attitude  in 
which  every  slave-holding  state  is  placed  by  this  position. 
But,  let  me  ask,  is  not  the  admission  of  our  opponents, 
that  this  power  of  congress  cannot  enter  the  limits  of  the 
'free  states/  conclusive  I  The  history  of  the  constitution 
of  the  union  shows  that  the  want  of  uniformity,  as  re 
gards  regulations  of  commerce,  was  the  great  motive 
leading  to  the  formation  of  that  instrument.  It  was  the 
sole  cause  assigned  in  the  resolutions  of  Virginia,  (of  Mr. 
Madison)  of  1785  and  1786,  as  a  consequence  of  which 
was  assembled  the  convention  which  framed  the  consti 
tution  of  the  union.  To  Mr.  Madison  and  to  Virginia 
belong  the  undisputed  honour  of  assembling  that  conven 
tion  ;  and  the  sole  object  avowed  in  the  Virginia  resolu 
tions  was,  by  the  adoption  of  the  constitution,  to  procure 
for  all  the  states  'uniformity  in  their  commercial  regula 
tions.'  Virginia  had  endeavoured,  prior  to  the  adoption 
of  the  constitution,  to  regulate  commerce  between  her 
ports  and  those  of  other  stales  and  nations,  but  she  found 
that  these  regulations  only  drove  this  commerce  to  the 
rival  ports  of  Maryland.  She  negotiated  with  Maryland 
to  adopt  similar  regulations,  but  Maryland  ascertained 
that  she  could  not  adopt  them  without  driving  her  com 
merce  to  Pennsylvania,  nor  Pennsylvania  without  New 


324 

York,  nor  New  York  without  New  England.  Absolute 
and  perfect  uniformity  was  required  to  give  due  effect  to 
regulations  of  commerce  among  all  the  states  ;  and  hence 
the  call  of  the  convention  which  formed  the  constitution 
of  the  union,  at  the  instance  of  Virginia,  to  establish  this 
uniformity.  If,  then,  this  power  to  regulate  commerce 
among  all  the  states  upon  the  principle  of  perfect  unifor 
mity,  cannot,  as  regards  the  transportation  and  sale  of 
slaves,  have  the  same  uniform  effect  in  all  the  states,  but 
can  be  exerted  in  and  between  some  states  only,  and  not 
in  others,  it  is  a  conclusive  argument,  that  as  regards 
this  local  and  peculiar  question  of  slaves,  and  their  sale 
and  transportation  from  state  to  state,  was  never  design 
ed  to  be  embraced  under  the  authority  of  congress  to 
regulate  commerce  among  the  states.  The  power  to 
regulate  commerce  among  the  states,  is  a  power  to  regu 
late  commerce  among  all  the  states ;  and  by  regulations 
of  perfect  uniformity,  applying  to  all,  and  exempting  none. 
But  Massachusetts,  it  is  conceded,  may,  as  regards  the 
transportation  into,  and  sale  of  slaves  in  that  state,  exempt 
herself  from  the  operation  of  the  power  of  congress  to 
regulate  commerce,  and  from  all  laws  of  congress  on 
that  subject.  Yet  this  power  is  not  only  to  operate  with 
perfect  uniformity,  but  is  declared  by  our  opponents  to 
be  'supreme  and  exclusive.'  And  may  this  power  be 
thus  struck  down  as  regards  a  single  state,  by  the  opera 
tion  of  state  laws  and  state  authority?  Does  any  one 
state  possess  the  authority  to  exempt  herself  from  a  power 
vested  in  congress  alone,  and  prohibited  to  the  states  ? 
Js  this  the  tenure,  at  the  will  of  a  state,  by  which  congress 
holds  its  powers,  and  especially  those  which  are 'supreme 
and  exclusive?'  It  is  said,  Massachusetts  may  exempt 
herself  from  the  operation  of  this  power,  by  declaring 
slaves  not  to  be  property  within  her  limits.  But  is  there 
any  way  in  which  a  state  may  exempt  itself  from  the 
operation  of  a  power  vested  in  congress  alone  ;  or  does 
this  exempting  power  depend  on  the  mode  in  wrhich  it  is 
exercised  by  a  state  ?  But  Massachusetts,  it  is  said,  may 
exempt  herself  from  the  operation  of  this  power  of  con 
gress,  by  declaring  slaves  not  to  be  property  within  her 
limits ;  and  if  so,  may  not  Mississippi  exempt  herself  in  a 


325 

similar  manner,  by  declaring,  as  she  has  done,  that  the 
slaves  of  other  states  shall  not  be  merchandize  within  her 
limits.  Cannot  the  state  say,  you  may  take  back  these 
slaves  from  our  limits,  but  they  shall  not  be  an  article  of 
merchandise  here  ;  or  may  she  not  say,  your  slaves  in 
in  other  states  shall  not  be  introduced  for  sale  here,  or  if 
so,  our  laws  will  emancipate  them ;  or  as  Maryland  now 
does,  send  them  to  Africa,  if  they  will  go,  and  if  not,  con 
tinue  them  as  slaves  in  the  state,  but  annul  the  sale  by 
the  importer  ?  And  must  the  slate  have  previously  eman 
cipated  all  negroes  who  had  been  slaves  within  her  lim 
its,  in  order  that  she  may  be  permitted  to  emancipate  or 
forbid  the  sale  of  other  negroes  introduced  as  slaves  from 
other  states?  A  certain  number  of  negroes  are  now 
slaves  in  Mississippi,  and  articles  of  merchandise  by  vir 
tue  of  state  laws  and  state  power,  within  her  limits.  Now 
it  is  conceded,  that  the  state  may  declare  all  these  not  to 
be  slaves,  or  not  to  be  merchandize,  within  her  limits. 
Yet  it  is  contended  she  may  not  make  the  same  declara 
tion  as  to  the  negroes  of  other  states  when  introduced 
into  the  state. 

"A  state  may,  it  is  conceded,  establish  or  abolish  slavery 
within  her  limits;  she  may  do  it  immediately,  or  gradu 
ally  and  prospectively ;  she  may  confine  slavery  to  the 
slaves  then  born  and  living  in  the  state,  or  to  them  and 
their  descendants,  or  to  those  slaves  in  the  state,  and  those 
introduced  by  emigrants,  and  not  for  sale,  or  those  to  be 
introduced  within  a  certain  date.  All  these  are  exer 
cises  of  the  unquestionable  power  of  a  state,  and  over 
which  congress  has  no  control  or  supervision.  Or  may 
congress  supervise  the  state  laws  in  this  respect,  and  say 
to  Massachusetts,  and  the  other  six  states,  who  with  her 
have  abolished  slavery,  slaves  from  other  states  shall  not 
against  your  laws  be  sold  within  your  limits ;  but  in  all 
the  remaining  nineteen  states  where  slavery  does  still 
exist,  your  laws  against  the  sale  of  slaves  from  other 
states,  shall  be  nugatory.  Or  may  congress  again,  as 
between  these  nineteen  states,  say  to  New  Jersey,  Penn 
sylvania,  &c.,  you  have  confined  slavery  to  the  slaves 
already  within  your  limits,  and  make  all  born  after  a 
certain  date,  free ;  slaves  from  other  states  shall  not  there- 
28* 


326 

fore  be  sold  in  your  states,  but  in  all  the  other  states, 
where  the  existing  slaves,  as  well  as  their  offspring,  are 
held  in  bondage,  all  other  slaves  may  be  sold  within  your 
limits,  from  other  states ;  if  this  be  not  so,  slaves  from 
other  states  may  be  sold  in  Pennsylvania,  Connecticut, 
Rhode  Island,  and  New  Jersey.  Negro  men  who  are 
held  as  slaves  elsewhere,  cannot  be  imported  and  sold  as 
slaves  in  these  states ;  because  although  negro  men  now 
there,  are  held  and  may  be  sold  as  slaves,  yet  the  descend 
ants  of  the  female  slaves,  if  there  be  any  born  hereafter, 
are  to  be  free.  And  can  it  be  seriously  contended  that 
this  is  so,  and  that  upon  an  examination  of  the  various 
conflicting  provisions  of  state  laws  in  this  respect,  as  to 
slavery  within  their  limits,  shall  depend  the  question 
whether  congress,  against  the  consent  of  the  states,  shall 
force  upon  some  states,  and  not  upon  others,  the  sale  of 
slaves  within  their  limits,  under  a  general  comprehensive, 
uniform,  supreme,  and  exclusive  power  to  regulate  com 
merce  among  all  the  states.  The  power  to  declare 
whether  men  shall  be  held  in  slavery  in  a  state,  and 
whether  those  only  of  a  certain  colour,  who  are  already 
there,  shall  be  held  in  slavery,  or  be  articles  of  merchan 
dize,  and  none  others,  or  whether  others  introduced  from 
other  states  shall  also  be  held  in  slavery,  or  be  articles 
of  merchandize  within  her  limits  is  exclusively  a  state 
power,  over  which  it  never  was  designed  by  the  consti 
tution,  that  congress  should  have  the  slightest  control,  to 
increase  or  decrease  the  number  who  should  be  held  as 
slaves  within  their  limits,  or  to  retard  or  postpone,  or  in 
fluence  in  any  way,  directly  or  indirectly,  the  question  of 
abolition.  Such  a  power  in  all  its  effects  and  conse 
quences,  is  a  power,  not  to  regulate  commerce  among 
the  states,  but  to  regulate  slavery,  both  in  and  among  the 
states.  It  is  abolition  in  its  most  dangerous  form,  under 
the  mask  of  a  power  to  regulate  commerce.  It  is  clearly 
a  power  in  congress  to  add  to  the  number  of  slaves  in  a 
state  against  her  will,  to  increase,  and  to  increase  indefi 
nitely,  slavery  and  the  number  of  slaves  in  a  state,  against 
her  authority.  And  if  congress  possess  the  power  to  in 
crease  slavery  in  a  state,  why  not  also  the  power  to  de 
crease  it,  and  to  regulate  it  at  pleasure?  Now  it  is  a 


327 

power  as  conceded  to  increase  slavery  against  the  will  of 
a  state,  within  its  limits,  whence  it  would  follow,  that  if 
a  state  desires  more  slaves,  congress,  under  the  same 
power,  may  forbid  the  transportation  of  slaves  from  any 
state  to  any  other  state,  and  thus  decrease  slavery  as 
regards  any  state,  against  her  will  and  pleasure.  The 
truth  is,  if  congress  possess  this  power  to  'regulate'  the 
transportation  and  sale  of  slaves,  from  state  to  state,  as  it 
may  all  other  articles  of  commerce,  and  slaves  are  to  be 
placed  on  the  same  basis,  under  this  supreme  and  exclu 
sive  power  to  regulate  commerce,  authority  over  the 
whole  subject  of  slavery  between  and  in  the  states,  would 
be  delegated  to  congress.  And  yet  how  strangely  incon 
sistent  are  the  arguments  of  the  abolitionists ;  they  say 
men  are  not  property  by  virtue  of  any  laws  of  congress 
or  of  the  states ;  and  yet  that  as  such,  commerce  in  them 
among  the  states  may  be  regulated  by  congress,  and  by 
congress  alone.  We  say,  the  character  of  merchandize, 
or  property,  is  attached  to  negroes,  not  by  any  grant  of 
power  in  the  constitution  of  the  United  States,  but  by 
virtue  of  the  positive  law  of  the  states  in  which  they  are 
found ;  and  with  these  states  alone  rests  the  power  to 
legislate  over  the  whole  subject,  and  to  give  to  them,  or 
take  from  them,  either  the  whole  or  from  any  part  or 
number  of  them,  those  already  there,  or  those  that  may 
be  introduced  thereafter,  in  whole  or  in  part,  the  charac 
ter  of  merchandize  or  property,  at  their  pleasure,  and 
over  all  which  state  regulations  congress  has  not  the 
slightest  power  whatever.  That  this  is  so,  follows  from 
the  admission,  that  a  state  can  abolish  slavery,  and  make 
all  the  slaves  within  her  limits  cease  to  be  property. 
Massachusetts,  it  is  said,  may  do  this;  and  may,  when 
done,  prevent  the  sale  of  slaves  within  her  limits.  But 
may  she  therefore  declare  that  horses,  or  cattle,  or 
cotton,  or  any  other  usual  article  of  commerce,  shall  not 
be  property  within  her  limits,  and  thereby  prevent  the 
sale  by  the  importer  of  similar  articles,  introduced  from 
abroad,  or  from  any  state  in  the  union  within  her  limits  ? 
Not  unless  she  can  abolish  property  and  commerce,  so 
far  as  she  is  concerned  with  all  foreign  nations,  and  with 
all  her  sister  states,  or  regulate  it  at  her  pleasure,  or  pre 
scribe  the  articles  in  regard  to  which  it  shall  exist. 


•  ."-       ..'--   ':"...       L.~          :-.  :      -.;.-••-        £-      ~  ' 

...  .     :      _  . ..;        .:    ...     .::.-.--.     ..:  ;     :     .__-.- : 

.:..:-._;-          -.      •    :  7  •.     -*          :        — i.  :  1 

'  -       '  :  .  .         '          .'  I    3 

.-   -      .  '  '  /.I.-:.;         .        -  .  :.:...:- 

------  -  :  .  .    .     •  -  _      .     .  ;f 

"•    .-•-•-.      -  ...  .       :.:       .         .       ; 

:  -  -  .  : •-•:••   .       - 

•fif  in.  some  Halar^  avi  Bat  ift  odbcs,  rcgardied  as  pro-   ; 

.  -  '       .        ..  -  -  ..  -  .  - 

-.  -  '     ..'.    -  .'-    ..  i:     .::':-    -.:.  t    -•       -  .     _    ._;    :  .- 

-     -      .  -          -   -       -  :  .    :    .  ".       . "       "  -.  i .. 


:        /  .   -  •  ' 

v«r  firsty  to  exempt 
of  eoagse»T  to  ziAfao- 


er 


... 

.     >*a 


e  imported  or 
nnecticut  and 


Slavery  exists,  as  sbaB 

.:.    .      '.   :  ;          .     .      .^ 

101  'free  states  ;'  and  if 


•^ 


create 


md  slave,  not  onlV  in  eases  in  wkkfc  h  does^ot 

:  .-  .     .  .-:  :••:....:-    :;    -    ;  .    -   ::   --  ---  -     C-  .: 


; 
• 

ress  cia  iac^w  Ja»d  empd  ^T«T  a  a  state, 

MS  w~lskes,  w*i    saes  fijaif.  K  -w  aibclfik  it    or  can 


s 
t 


330 

within  the  commercial  power,  by  declaring  them  not  to 
be  property  within  her  limits,  she  may  make  the  same 
declaration  as  to  any  or  all  other  articles  embraced  by 
this  power  of  the  constitution ;  forbid  their  importation 
or  sale  within  her  limits,  and  thus  regulate  at  her  plea 
sure,  or  annihilate  the  commerce  between  that  state  and 
all  the  other  states.  It  follows  then  as  a  consequence, 
either  that  each  state  at  its  pleasure  may,  as  to  that  state, 
annihilate  the  whole  commercial  power  of  congress,  by 
declaring  what  shall  or  shall  not  be  property  within  her 
limits,  or  that  slaves  were  designated  by  the  constitution 
as  'persons,'  and  as  such,  never  designed  to  be  embraced 
in  the  power  of  congress  to  regulate  commerce  among 
the  states.  The  commerce  to  be  regulated  was  among 
the  several  states.  Among  what  states  ?  Was  it  among 
all,  or  only  some  of  the  states  ?  Was  it  a  national  or 
sectional  commercial  code,  which  congress  was  to  adopt? 
Was  it  to  operate  between  Virginia  and  Massachusetts  ? 
Was  it  a  regulation  that  would  operate  only  between  two 
states  ;  but  not  as  between  one  of  these  states,  and  ano 
ther  remote  or  adjacent  state?  Was  it  a  regulation  con 
fined  to  particular  states,  and  to  be  changed  by  those 
states,  as  from  time  to  time  they  might  change  their 
policy  upon  any  local  question,  and  was  it  a  local  or  ge 
neral  commerce  ?  Could  it  regulate  by  compulsory  enact 
ments  an  inter-state  commerce  in  particular  articles  be 
tween  certain  states,  because  those  states  permitted  an 
internal  commerce  in  similar  articles ;  but  be  authorized 
to  extend  no  similar  regulations  to  other  states  forbidding 
such  internal  commerce?  If  so,  congress. must  look  to 
state  laws  to  see  what  articles  are  vendible  in  a  state,  or 
what  internal  commerce  is  authorized  by  it  within  its 
limits,  before  it  can  apply  a  general  regulation  of  com 
merce  to  that  state.  Or  does  the  authority  of  congress 
to  regulate  the  external  or  internal  state  commerce,  de 
pend  upon  the  manner  in  which  a  state  exercises  its  own 
power  of  regulating  its  internal  commerce  ?  If  so,  and 
this  be  the  rule  as  to  slaves  as  embraced  in  the  commer 
cial  power,  it  must  be  the  same  as  to  all  other  articles 
embraced  in  the  same  power;  and  the  power  of  congress 
in  regulating  commerce  among  the  states  will  depend 


331 

upon  the  permission  of  each  state  in  regulating  its  inter 
nal  commerce.  But  not  only  was  this  uniformity  in  regu 
lations  of  commerce  required  by  the  nature  and  national 
object  of  the  grant ;  but  the  constitution,  in  the  same  ar 
ticle  in  which  the  power  is  given  to  congress  to  regulate 
commerce  among  the  states,  expressly  declares,  that  'No 
preference  shall  be  given  by  any  regulation  of  commerce 
or  revenue,  to  the  ports  of  one  state  over  those  of  ano 
ther.'  Now,  if  Massachusetts  and  Mississippi  both  forbid 
by  law  the  introduction  of  slaves  as  merchandize,  and 
congress  enact  a  law,  or  this  court  make  a  decree,  by 
virtue  of  which,  slaves  are  forced  into  the  ports  of  Missis 
sippi  for  sale,  but  cannot  be  forced  for  the  same  purpose 
of  sale  into  the  ports  of  Massachusetts,  a  direct  prefer 
ence  is  given  by  a  'regulation  of  commerce,'  to  the  ports 
of  one  state  over  those  of  another.  It  is  a  preference,  if 
one  state  may  be  permitted  to  exclude  from  introduction 
for  sale  within  her  ports,  what  another  state  is  compelled 
to  receive  for  sale.  It  is  a  preference  which  is  asked  in 
this  case,  to  follow  as  a  'regulation  of  commerce,'  by  vir 
tue  of  this  very  provision  in  the  constitution  itself,  and  in 
the  absence  of  all  congressional  enactments,  as  if  the  con 
stitution  created  these  very  preferences  as  to  commerce, 
which  it  was  the  very  object  of  that  instrument  to  pro 
hibit. 

"As,  then,  it  is  conceded  by  our  opponents,  that  the 
laws  of  Massachusetts  do  prohibit  the  introduction  of 
slaves  in  her  ports,  and  are  constitutional,  the  same  ad 
mission  must  follow  as  to  the  laws  of  Mississippi,  forbid 
ding  the  introduction  of  slaves  in  her  ports  ;  or  a  preter- 
ence  will  be  given  by1  the  constitution  itself,  by  'a  regula 
tion  of  commerce,'  to  the  'ports  of  one  state  over  those  of 
another.'  But  these  state  laws  are  not  regulations  of 
commerce,  but  of  slavery.  They  relate  to  the  social  re 
lations  which  exist  in  a  state;  the  relation  of  master  and 
slave ;  they  define  the  'person'  to  whom  that  relation 
shall  be  extended,  and  how  and  under  what  circumstances 
it  shall  be  further  introduced  into  the  state.  Each  state 
has  exclusive  power  over  the  social  relations  which  shall 
exist,  or  be  introduced  within  her  limits,  and  upon  what 
terms  and  conditions,  and  what  persons  or  number  of 


332 

persons  shall  be  embraced  within  these  regulations.  The 
condition  of  master  and  slave  is  a  relation;  it  is  univer 
sally  designated  as  the  relation  of  master  and  slave ;  and 
whether  this  relation  shall  be  confined  to  the  slaves  al 
ready  within  the  limits  of  the  state,  or  be  extended  to 
others  to  be  introduced  in  future,  is  a  matter  exclusively 
within  the  power  of  each  state.  The  relation  of  master 
and  slave,  of  master  and  apprentice,  of  owner  and  re- 
demptioner,  of  purchaser  and  convict  sold,  or  guardian 
and  ward,  husband  and  wife,  parent  and  child,  are  all  re 
lations  depending  exclusively  on  the  municipal  regulations 
of  each  state ;  and  over  which,  to  create  or  abolish, 
limit  or  extend,  introduce  or  exclude,  or  regulate  in  any 
manner  whatever,  congress  has  no  authority ;  and  con 
gress  can  no  more  say  that  a  state  shall  have  forced 
upon  her  more  slaves  than  she  desires,  because  there  are 
slaves  there,  than  that  a  state  shall  have  more  apprentices 
than  she  desires,  because  there  are  apprentices  within 
her  limits.  I  speak  as  a  question  of  law,  and  not  as  in 
stituting  any  moral  comparison  between  slaves  and  ap 
prentices  ;  for  from  the  ranks  of  the  latter  have  risen 
some  of  the  greatest  and  best  men,  and  purest  patriots. 
The  master  has  the  right,  not  created  by  the  constitution 
of  the  United  States,  or  to  be  regulated  by  it,  but  created 
and  regulated  by  state  laws,  to  the  services  of  the  slave 
for  life,  the  time  prescribed  by  the  laws  of  the  state.  The 
master  has  the  right  to  the  services  of  the  apprentice  for 
the  time  prescribed  by  the  laws  of  the  state ;  and  both,  if 
the  state  permits,  may  assign  to  others  their  right  to 
these  services  under  the  directions  of  state  laws.  Can 
therefore  the  right  to  the  services  of  an  apprentice,  as 
signable  in  one  state,  be  assigned  in  another  state  against 
her  will,  with  the  introduction  of  the  apprentice  there, 
because  the  services  of  other  apprentices  already  there, 
are  assignable  in  that  state  ? 

"Under  the  laws  introduced  into  at  least  two  of  the 
free  states  of  this  union,  malefactors  might  have  been 
sold  for  a  term  as  long  as  life,  and  their  services  might 
be  assignable  for  life  by  the  purchaser  at  public  sale,  to 
any  third  person  whatever  ;  these  malefactors,  in  the  lan 
guage  of  the  constitution  of  the  union,  in  regard  to  slaves, 


333 

were  "persons  bound  to  service"  for  life,  and  their  ser 
vices  for  life  assignable  by  their  masters;  and  yet  could 
these  malefactors,  thus  assignable,  be  introduced  into,  and 
be  lawfully  transferred  in  any  other  state,  against  her 
Jaws,  because  other  malefactors  already  there,  were  there 
assignable ;  yet,  a  malefactor  bound  to  service  for  life, 
purchased  by  his  master  at  public  sale,  and  liable  to  be 
sold  by  his  owner,  is  as  much  his  property  in  contempla 
tion  of  law,  as  the  slave  can  be  of  his  master.  He  is  in 
fact  a  slave,  having  forfeited  his  liberty,  and  subjected 
himself  to  perpetual  services  by  his  crimes;  a  manner  in 
which  the  most  rigid  moralists  admit  that  servitude  may 
be  justifiably  established.  Yet.  such  slaves  cannot  be 
transported  and  sold  from  state  to  state;  though  by  the 
very  constitution  of  Ohio  and  other  of  the  free  states, 
'slavery'  is  expressly  authorized  therein,  'for  the  punish 
ment  of  crimes.'  It  does  not  exist  in  Mississippi  as  in 
the  free  states,  only  as  a  'punishment  for  crimes,'  but 
from  a  state  necessity,  equally  strong  and  powerful ;  the 
necessity  of  self-government,  and  of  self-protection,  and 
as  best  for  the  security  and  welfare  of  both  races.  Sla 
very  in  Mississippi  is  a  relation  of  perpetual  pupilage  and 
minority,  and  of  contented  dependence  on  the  one  hand, 
and  of  guardian  care  and  patriarchal  power  on  the  other, 
a  power  essential  for  the  welfare  of  both  parties/  With 
us  the  slaves  greatly  preponderate  in  numbers,  and  it  is 
simply  a  question  whether  they  shall  govern  us,  or  we 
shall  govern  them  ;  whether  there  shall  be  an  African  or 
Anglo-American  government  in  the  state;  or  whether 
there  shall  be  a  government  of  intelligent  white  free  men, 
or  of  ignorant  negro  slaves,  to  emancipate  whom  would 
not  be  to  endow  them  with  the  moral  or  intellectual  pow 
er  to  govern  themselves  or  others,  but  to  sink  into  the 
same  debasement  and  misery  which  marks  their  truly 
unhappy  condition  in  the  crowded  and  pestilent  alleys  ol 
the  great  cities  of  the  north,  where  they  are  called  free, 
but  they  are  in  fact  a  degraded  caste,  subjected  to  the 
worst  of  servitude,  the  bondage  of  vice,  of  ignorance,  of 
want  and  misery.  And  if  such  be  their  condition  where 
they  are  few  in  number  and  surrounded  by  their  sympa 
thising  friends,  how  would  it  be  where  there  are  hundreds 
29 


334 

of  thousands  of  them,  and  how  in  states  where  they 
greatly  preponderate  in  number?  Their  emancipation, 
where  such  is  the  condition  of  the  country,  would  be  to 
them  the  darkest  abyss  of  debasement,  misery,  vice  and 
anarchy.  Arid  yet  to  produce  this  very  result,  is  the 
grand  object  of  that  party  in  the  north  that  demands  of 
congress  to  regulate  trade  among  the  states,  not  really 
with  the  view  to  prohibit  that  traffic,  for  it  is  prohibited 
by  the  slave-holding  states,  but  with  an  ultimate  view  to 
emancipation  as  an  incidental  consequence  from  the 
action  of  congress  over  the  subject.  And  here  let  me 
observe,  that  an  adherence  by  the  south  to  the  policy  in 
w'hich  they  are  now  united,  in  abolishing  as  states  the 
inter-state  slave  trade,  and  the  support  of  that  power  and 
of  that  policy  on  the  part  of  the  states,  by  the  decree  of 
this  court,  and  the  denial  of  the  power  of  congress,  will 
do  much  to  secure  the  continuance  of  that  policy  and  to 
silence  the  most  powerful  of  the  batteries  of  abolition. 

"Another  great  mistake,  maintained  in  the  north  by 
this  party,  is  the  ground  now  assumed  in  claiming  this 
regulating  commercial  power  of  congress,  that  by  the 
law  of  the  slave-holding  states,  slaves  are  merely  chattels 
and  not  persons,  and  therefore  are  subjected  to  the  power 
of  congress  to  regulate  commerce  among  the  states.  If 
it  be  intended  to  convey  the  idea  that  slaves  are  designed 
to  be  deprived  by  the  laws  of  the  south  of  the  qualities 
and  character  of*  persons,  and  of  the  rights  of  human 
beings,  and  to  degrade  them  in  all  things  to  the  level  of 
chattels,  of  inanimate  matter,  or  of  the  brutes  that  perish, 
it  is  a  radical  error,  and  one  that  has  been  too  long  cir 
culated  uncontradicted  by  the  abolitionists.  In  some  of 
the  states,  they  are  designated  as  real,  as  immovable 
property.  Is  it  therefore  designed  to  deprive  them  of  the 
power  of  locomotion,  or  to  convert  them  into  a  part  of 
the  land  or  soil  of  a  state  ?  Far  otherwise.  Nor  does 
their  designation  as  general  property  convert  them  into 
mere  chattels,  and  deprive  them  of  the  character  of  human 
beings.  In  the  south  this  is  well  understood,  and  no  such 
meaning  is  attached  to  these  terms,  but  in  the  north  they 
are  seized  on  and  perverted,  as  if  slaves  were  regarded 
and  treated  by  us  as  inanimate  matter.  No,  they  are,  in 


335 

every  thing  essential  to  their  real  welfare,  regarded  as 
persons ;  as  such  they  are  responsible  and  punishable  for 
crimes;  as  such  to  kill  them  in  cold  blood  is  murder  ;  to 
treat  them  with  cruelty  or  refuse  them  comfortable  cloth 
ing  and  food,  is  a  highly  penal  offence ;  as  such  they  are 
nursed  in  sickness  and  infancy,  and  even  in  old  age,  with 
care  and  tenderness,  when  the  season  of  labour  is  past. 
To  call  them  chattels  or  real  estate,  no  more  makes  them 
in  reality  land  or  merely  inanimate  matter,  than  to  call 
the  blacks  of  the  north  freemen,  makes  them  so  in  fact. 
When  the  constitution  of  Mississippi,  and  laws  made  in 
pursuance  thereof,  require  that  slaves  shall  be  treated 
with  humanity,  commands  that  they  shall  be  well  clothed 
and  fed,  and  that  unreasonable  labour  shall  not  be  exact 
ed,  are  these  provisions  applicable  to  a  mere  chattel, 
which  the  owner  may  mutilate  or  destroy  at  pleasure  ? 
No.  The  master  has  no  right  to  the  flesh  and  blood,  the 
bones  and  sinews  of  any  man  under  the  laws  of  the  south  ; 
this  is  an  abolition  slander,  and  the  right  is  to  the  services 
of  the  slave,  so  declared  expressly  in  the  laws  of  the 
south,  and  so  recognized  in  the  constitution  of  the  United 
States,  where  slaves  are  described  as  'persons  bound  to 
service  or  labour,'  and  so  unanimously  decided  by  the 
highest  court  of  our  state.  Jones'  case,  Walker's  Miss. 
Rep.  83.  The  right  of  the  master  is  to  the  services  of 
the  slave,  a  right  accruing  only  by  virtue  of  the  law  of 
the  state,  and  upon  the  terms  therein  prescribed.  The 
rights  of  the  master  and  slave  are  reciprocal  under  the 
laws  of  the  south  ;  the  right  of  the  master  is  to  the  servi 
ces  of  the  slave  for  life,  and  the  right  of  the  slave  as 
secured  by  law,  to  humane  and  proper  treatment,  to  com 
fortable  lodging,  food  and  clothing,  and  to  proper  care  in 
infancy,  sickness  and  old  age.  These  are  the  wages 
paid,  and  that  must  be  paid  by  the  master ;  and  if  the 
doctrine  of  the  abolitionists  be  correct,  that  slave  labour 
is  dearer  than  free  labour,  then  higher  wages  are  thus 
paid  in  the  south  than  in  the  north  for  the  same  amount  c 
labour;  and  that  it  is  much  higher  wages  than  is  paid .to 
the  toiling  and  starving  millions  of  Europe,  no  candid 
man  will  deny.  Let  me  be  accused  of  making  no  com 
parison  between  slaves  and  my  countrymen,  the  free 


336 

white  labourers  of  all  the  states.  No;  they  are  fitted 
morally  and  intellectually  for  self-government,  and  the 
slaves  are  not  so  fitted ;  and  therefore,  even  for  their 
own  benefit,  must  be  controlled  by  others.  In  truth, 
then,  slavery  is  a  condition  of  things ;  it  is  a  relation,  the 
relation  of  master  and  slave,  the  status  servi  of  the  Ro 
man  and  Grecian  law,  so  designated  and  recognized  as  a 
relation  in  the  days  of  the  Jewish  Theocracy,  as  well  as 
under  the  Christian  dispensation.  By  all  these  laws  it 
was  designated  as  a  relation,  and  as  such  we  have  seen  it 
expressly  recognized  in  the  constitution  of  the  United 
States,  where  slaves  are  called  'persons  held  to  service  of 
labour.'  How  far  they  shall  be  so  bound  is  exclusively  a 
question  of  state  authority,  and  over  which  the  congress 
of  the  union  possess  not  the  slightest  authority.  The 
states  and  the  states  only  can  say  what  persons  shall  be 
bound  to  service,  and  when  they  shall  be  released,  and  to 
what  persons  this  relation  shall  be  extended,  and  whether 
it  shall  be  confined  to  those  slaves  already  within  the 
limits  of  a  state,  or  be  enlarged  so  as  to  include  all  others 
who  may  be  introduced  within  their  limits;  and  it  is  the 
abolitionists  who  must  wholly  deprive  the  slaves  of  the 
character  of  persons,  and  reduce  them  in  all  respects  to 
the  level  of  merchandize,  before  they  can  apply  to  them 
the  power  of  congress  to  regulate  commerce  among  the 
states. 

"We  have  seen  in  the  course  of  this  argument,  that 
ten  of  the  twelve  states  which  framed  the  constitution, 
have  passed  laws,  many  of  them  cotemporaneous  with 
the  formation  of  the  constitution  or  almost  immediately 
after,  prohibiting  the  introduction  from  other  states,  of 
slaves  for  sale,  and  have  enforced  these  laws.  The  simi 
lar  provisions  have  been  made  in  effect  by  all  the  states 
in  their  laws  or  constitutions,  and  that  these  provisions 
have  all  been  enforced,  that  the  supreme  judicial  tribunal 
of  every  state,  (where  the  question  has  been  made,)  have 
again  and  again,  during  a  period  of  more  than  fifty  years, 
declared  these  laws  to  be  valid ;  and  that  the  Supreme 
Court  of  the  United  States  have,  again  and  again,  unani 
mously  recognized  their  constitutionality,  and  carried 
them  into  execution ;  that  at  least  six  of  the  new  states 


337 

have  affirmed  in  their  constitutions  the  power  to  pass 
those  laws,  and  that  congress  (sometimes  by  an  unani 
mous  vote)  have  on  all  those  occasions,  commencing  in 
1792,  and  terminating  in  1836,  conceded  that  these  con 
stitutions  affirming  this  power,  were  'not  repugnant  to 
the  constitution  of  the  United  States.'  Does  not  all  this 
settled  action  of  all  the  departments  of  the  governments 
of  the  states,  and  of  the  United  States,  fix  the  construc 
tion  of  the  constitution  in  this  respect,  and  leave  it  no 
longer  an  open  question  for  the  investigation  of  this 
court.  This  court  have  declared  that  <a  cotemporary 
exposition  of  the  constitution  practised  and  acquiesced 
under  for  a  period  of  years,  fixes  the  construction,  and 
the  courts  will  not  shake  or  control  it.'  1  Cranch,  299. 
And  now,  will  this  court,  by  a  single  decree,  overthrow 
the  law  as  settled  for  more  than  fifty  years,  by  all  the  de 
partments  of  the  governments  of  the  states,  and  of  the 
union  ?  If  so,  it  must  sacrifice  at  once  a  hetacomb  of 
acts  and  decisions,  and  change  the  structure  of  the  go 
vernment  itself.  It  would  be  a  judicial  revolution,  more 
sudden  and  overwhelming  in  its  effects,  than  the  last 
great  revolutions  in  France  and  England,  which  were 
little  more  than  changes  of  dynasty.  I  have  called  it  a 
revolution,  not  a  usurpation  ;  but  the  most  daring  usurper 
never  effected  so  sudden  and  extensive  a  change  in  the 
civil  and  political  rights,  and  settled  internal  policy  of  a 
nation.  These  have  been  generally  spared  by  conquerors 
and  usurpers,  or  if  not  spared,  they  were  not  subverted 
by  a  single  decree,  to  be  at  once  proclaimed  and  exe 
cuted.  But  here,  the  moment  this  decree  shall  be  record 
ed,  the  revolution  will  have  commenced  and  terminated, 
and  this  court  will  re-assemble  among  the  fragments  of 
laws  subverted,  and  decisions  overthrown.  The  consti 
tutions  of  six  of  the  states,  the  laws  of  all  upon  this 
subject,  and  a  series  of  uninterrupted  judicial  decisions 
for  more  than  half  a  century,  will  be  at  once  obliterated. 
With  them  will  fall  the  acts  of  congress  upon  this  ques 
tion,  from  the  admission  of  the  first,  to  the  last  of  the 
new  states,  and  many  confirmatory  decisions  of  this  tri 
bunal.  This  decree  affects  the  past,  the  present  and 

29* 


338 

future.  Reaching  back  to  1788,  it  annuls  all  the  state 
laws  forbidding  the  introduction  of  slaves,  and  re-enslaves 
all,  and  the  descendants  of  all  that  were  liberated  by  those 
statutes.  And  all  this  is  to  be  effected  by  a  single  decree ; 
no  time  allowed  to  prepare  for  the  mighty  change,  but  it 
is  to  be  the  work  of  an  instant. 

"So  much  for  the  past  and  present,  and  now  for  that 
dark  and  gloomy  future,  when  this  court,  having  annulled 
all  the  state  laws  on  this  subject,  shall  announce  that  it  is 
a  question  over  which  the  power  of  congress  is  supreme 
and  exclusive.  Could  the  union  stand  the  mighty  shock, 
and  if  it  fell,  we  look  upon  the  victims  of  anarchy  and 
civil  war,  resting  wearied  for  the  night  from  the  work  of 
death  and  desolation,  to  renew  in  the  morning  the  dread 
ful  conflict?  Throwing  our  eyes  across  the  Atlantic, 
shall  we  behold  the  consequences,  when  the  overthrow 
ing  of  this  union,  this  second  fall  of  mankind,  shall  be 
there  promulgated  ?  Shall  we  there  see  those  daring 
men,  now  pleading  the  cause  of  self-government  around 
the  thrones  of  monarchs,  sink  despairing  from  the  con 
flict,  amid  the  shouts  of  tyrants  exulting  over  the  pros 
trate  libei ties  of  man.  And  who  can  expect  such  a  decree 
from  this  tribunal  ?  No,  this  court  will  now  prove,  that 
however  passion  or  prejudice  may  sway  for  a  time  any  other 
department  of  this  government,  here  the  rights  of  every 
section  of  this  union  are  secure.  And  when,  as  1  doubt 
not,  all  shall  now  be  informed,  that  over  the  subject  of 
slavery,  congress  possesses  no  jurisdiction  ;  the  power  of 
agitators  will  expire,  and  this  decree  will  be  regarded  as 
a  re-signing  and  re-sealing  of  the  constitution.'* 

Will  not  this  speech,  will  not  the  acts  and  deeds  of 
southern  legislatures — will  not  the  resistance  that  they 
have  yielded  to  the  foreign  as  well  as  domestic  or  inter 
state  slave  trade,  convince  our  brethren  of  the  north  that 
there  is  no  disposition  to  blink  this  question.  That  the 
south  is  ready  to  meet  it  and  does  meet  it  full  in  the  face. 
And  that  all  our  efforts  are  used,  so  far  as  is  consistent 
and  safe,  to  ameliorate  and  better  the  condition  of  the 
African  race,  under  the  circumstances  in  which  they  are 
placed.  We  make  no  appeal  to  abolitionists,  properly 
such.  We  appeal  to  those  who  are  yet  undecided,  to 


339 

those  who  resist  abolitionism  direct  and  immediate,  here, 
in  our  midst ;  we  appeal  to  the  friends  of  our  union,  the 
lovers  of  a  country  so  dear  to  every  patriot,  to  the  friends 
and  supporters  in  the  north  of  the  cause  of  humanity 
and  our  common  Christianity,  and  ask,  will  brethren 
abide  by  the  constitution  and  union  of  our  common  coun 
try  ?  We  have  married  your  daughters,  and  your  sons 
have  married  ours.  They  dwell  in  our  midst  and  are 
ready  to  share  our  fate.  Will  you  consent  that  the  mid 
night  assassin,  upon  the  beck  or  call  of  abolitionism,  shall 
be  let  loose  on  your  children  to  butcher  them  and  us,  and 
break  down  our  union,  bought  so  dear,  at  no  less  a  price 
than  the  life's  blood  of  your  own  fathers?  Around  the 
altars  of  your  God  we  have  worshipped,  we  are  members 
of  the  same  churches,  servants  of  the  same  Saviour,  de 
scended  from  the  same  stock,  destined,  we  trust,  to  live 
in  the  same  heaven.  At  one  fell  stroke  will  you  sever  us 
forever  from  you?  Will  you  force  us  to  withdraw  our 
selves  and  our  trade  from  your  cities,  and  cut  your  ac 
quaintance,  and  have  no  intercourse?  We  trust  not. 
Finally,  will  you  consent  that  fanatics  shall  put  the  fire 
brand  to  our  dwellings,  render  our  country  desolate,  dis 
honour  our  wives,  pollute  our  daughters,  apply  the  knife 
to  our  throats,  the  dagger  to  our  bosoms,  and  slaughter 
with  us  your  own  children,  to  carry  out  the  cruel  policy 
of  Great  Britain,  that  knows  to  feel  for  none  but  herself? 
Shall  one  or  more  of  the  stars  and  stripes  on  our  national 
flag,  that  has  waved  in  triumph  over  the  blue  waters  of 
every  ocean  in  the  hour  of  battle,  as  in  times  of  peace, 
and  on  the  land  as  on  the  sea,  be  stricken  forever  from 
the  same?  Shall  your  ministers,  God's  messengers,  and 
ours,  and  you  and  we,  meet  no  more  at  the  same  altar, 
not  worship  harmoniously  under  the  wide-spreading 
branches  of  the  tree  of  liberty,  where  none  dare  to  make 
us  afraid?  And  shall  we  be  forced  to  withdraw  our  so?is 
and  daughters  from  your  schools,  and  dismiss  those  whom 
we  have  employed  as  their  teachers,  and  let  there  be  a  line 
of  separation  now  and  forever  ?  Brethren,  what  say 
you?  Ah,  dark  will  be  the  day  when  these  things  come 
to  pass.  We  pray  that  that  tongue  may  be  struck  dumb, 
and  that  arm  be  paralized,  that  would  aid  in  the  accom- 


340 

plishment  of  an  end  so  vile  and  so  base.    May  heaven,  in 
mercy,  grant  our  prayer! 

We  invite  you,  brethren  of  the  north  and  east,  we  beg, 
we  entreat  you,  if  you  will  not  hear  and  read  us,  read 
attentively,  and  with  coolness  and  calmness,  the  admirable 
speech  of  senator  Walker  and  those  of  others  herein 
quoted.  We  believe  that  no  intelligent,  candid  man, 
can  peruse  the  same,  without  coming  to  the  same  de 
cision  with  the  United  States  Court,  so  far  as  his  own 
mind  is  concerned.  Can  you,  fellow-citizens,  believe  that 
such  a  man  as  Governor  Gilmer,  of  Virginia,  a  man  not 
only  pure  as  a  politician,  but  like  Caesar's  wife,  free  from 
suspicion,  would  sacrifice  the  highest  honour  of  his  native 
state,  so  freely  conferred  on  him,  unless  there  had  been 
a  deep  and  an  abiding  conviction  that  foreign  inter 
ference  in  the  internal  concerns  of  a  state  would  blast 
forever  our  fondest  hopes  of  the  permanency  of  this  re 
public?  We  pray  you  ponder  your  ways  before  it  is  too 
late  I 

But  we  turn  for  a  moment  to  the  south.  We  have 
spoken  freely  already  respecting  the  duties  devolving  on 
it.  We  have  said  that  slaves  are  a  trust,  placed  by  the 
providence  of  God  in  the  hands  of  southerners,  and  every 
master  is  called  to  discharge  his  duties,  with  forbearance, 
patience  and  fidelity.  If  we  know  any  thing  of  our  own 
heart,  we  have  never  felt  disposed  to  waver  respecting 
our  duty;  but  have  openly  and  publicly  proclaimed  the 
obligations  of  those  owning  slaves  to  train  and  govern 
them  so  as  to  ameliorate  and  better  their  condition  here, 
and  guide  them,  that  their  end  may  be  everlasting  life. 

Many  of  you,  fellow-citizens,  have  extensive  farms. 
At  a  small  expenditure  two  or  three  neighbours  can  erect 
a  neat  church,  in  which  your  families  (when  at  home) 
and  servants  may  regularly  worship.  A  few  hundred 
dollars  will  provide  a  minister  who  has  been  raised  among 
you,  and  knows  the  character  of  the  colored  man.  Let 
such  an  one  be  obtained  in  every  neighbourhood  to  be 
their  pastor  and  your  chaplain.  Many  have  done  this,  in 
some  of  the  southern  states  ;  and  whilst  the  moral  cha 
racter  of  their  servants  has  been  bettered  abundantly, 
they  have  in  most  instances  by  their  attention,  industry, 


341 

and  faithfulness,  amply  remunerated  their  owners.  Some 
of  the  most  interesting  coloured  congregations  of  the 
south,  thus  provided  for,  are  now  under  the  care 
of  self-mortifying,  self-denying  ministers,  chosen  with 
special  reference  to  the  benefit  of  the  coloured  people. 

When  there  is  a  church  in  your  vicinity,  you  must  not 
only  give  your  servants  permission  to  go,  but  see  that 
they  do  go.  Make  them  regard  the  Sabbath  as  a  day 
of  rest  and  worship.  In  order  to  do  this,  give  them  time 
to  wash  their  clothing  and  dispose  of  those  articles  during 
the  week,  which  may  be  made  by  them  for  sale,  that  God's 
Holy  Law  may  not  be  infringed  by  you,  or  "your  man 
servant,  or  maid  servant."  "Re?nember  the  Sabbath  day 
to  keep  it  holy."  Permit  no  ardent  spirits  to  be  used. 
The  use  of  this  has  done  the  negroes  and  Indians  more 
harm  than  an  age  can  repair,  and  many  a  master  has  it 
ruined,  for  time  and  eternity.  You  know  the  demoraliz 
ing  effects  of  hundreds  of  free  negroes  being  Dithered 
together  in  neighborhoods.  These  often  induce  the  slaves 
to  plunder  the  property  of  their  masters,  to  sustain  them 
in  idleness,  prodigality,  and  the  worst  of  vices.  To  re 
medy  this  evil  and  better  the  condition  of  the  slaves  as 
well  as  the  free  coloured  people,  unite  your  efforts  to  co 
lonize  the  latter  and  let  all,  as  their  owners  free  them,  be 
sent  out  full  to  AFRICA,  there  to  aid  in  civilizing  and  re 
forming  the  numerous  heathen  of  that  vast  continent. 

The  efforts  used  by  abolitionists  to  provoke,  insult  and 
degrade  you  in  the  estimation  of  your  fellow-citizens  and 
the  world,  should  only  incite  you  to  pursue  still  your  on 
ward  course  in  seeking  to  ameliorate  the  condition  of  your 
slaves,  and  to  discharge  all  the  high  and  holy  duties  de 
volving  on  you,  whilst  they,  in  God's  providence,  are 
under  your  care.  Frankness  and  candour,  however, 
constrain  us  to  say,  it  does  behoove  you  to  be  on  your 
guard.  Fanaticism  is  the  most  dangerous  of  all  the  in 
fluences,  to  which  man  is  subject.  Opposition  only  makes 
it  more  ardent,  until  it  naturally  exhausts  its  own  fury, 
or  is  constrained  by  the  force  of  circumstances  to  yield  ; 
or  is  at  once  overpowered  by  the  weight  of  public  opinion, 
and  public  authority.  If,  however,  they  persist  in  sending 
and  circulating  their  inflammatory  tracts  and  emissaries, 


342 

to  stir  up  and  excite,  on  the  one  hand,  the  slaves  to  deeds 
of  insurrection  and  crime,  and  on  the  other,  to  provoke 
the  owners  to  violence  and  cruelty,  it  is  your  duty  to  take 
care  of  yourselves,  your  wives,  your  children,  and  your 
servants  too.  Therefore  you  ought,  not  only  to  resist  them, 
but  hold  no  communications  by  trade  or  otherwise  with 
such. 

Your  overseers  should  be  men  of  piety  and  tried  inte 
grity,  who  will  not  be  found  instigating  the  slaves  to  evil, 
by  inculcating  bad  principles  or  by  cruelty.  One  aboli 
tionist  employed  as  such  may  do  more  harm  than  one 
thousand  of  a  different  cast.  If  our  northern  and  eastern 
brethren  will  not  regard  our  constitutional  rights  and  re 
spect  our  condition,  then  let  them,  their  goods  and  their 
wares  stay  at  home,  and  let  us  purchase  them  elsewhere, 
and  import,  if  we  cannot  make  them  ourselves.  Say  not 
we  cannot  get  them.  The  products  of  your  farms  will 
command  all  the  necessary  means,  and  the  money  will 
bring  them  from  any  portion  of  the  globe. 

We  have  just  received  a  pamphlet  written  by  an  En 
glishman,  THOMAS  CLARKSON,  sent  through  the  public 
mails  of  the  United  States,  and  addressed  to  ministers  in 
the  slave-holding  states,  in  which  at  one  fell  stroke  he 
cuts  them  all  off',  as  the  vilest  of  the  vile,  among  all  the 
vile  hypocrites  of  God's  earth,  because  they  do  not  de 
nounce  you  as  "rogues,"  "adulterers,"  "fornicators," 
"perjured,"  "villanous  murderers."  It  is  entitled  "A 
letter  to  the  clergy  of  various  denominations  in  the  SLAVE- 
HOLDIIVG  STATES  OF  AMERICA,  by  Thomas  Clarkson. 
Second  edition.1'  And  a  copy  of  it  is  designed  to  be  sent 
to  every  minister  whose  name  could  be  obtained  in 
all  the  south.  The  vile  slanders  of  this  abominable 
tract,  sent  out  by  this  abolition  chief,  at  the  call  of 
a  party  of  fanatics,  are  almost  without  a  parallel  for  pre 
sumption  and  impudence,  even  among  the  deeds  of  abo 
litionists.  And  shall  the  descendants  of  those  who  bared 
their  bosoms  to  the  fiery  ball  to  deliver  and  secure,  free 
from  British  tyranny,  these  states,  join  hands  with  such 
impudent  foreigners,  to  crush  forever  the  south,  that  fair 
portion  of  our  republic. 

In  closing  our  remarks  in  which  we  have  fearlessly 
advanced  our  opinions,  opinions  which  we  believe  to  be 


343 

both  true  and  tenable,  we  calmly  ask  is  it  not  time  for 
the  south,  and  is  it  not  time  lor  the  north,  as  well  as  the 
south  to  wake  up?  Is  it  not  time  for  the  south  to  wake 
up,  when  in  the  city  of  Montreal  alone,  it  is  computed, 
(and  we  have  the  evidence  before  us,)  that  upwards 
of  twenty  thousand  coloured  persons,  who  have  ab 
sconded  from  their  owners  in  the  south  and  south 
west  are  there  collected  by  abolition  and  British  aid,  and 
are  now  to  be  transported  to  Jamaica  free  of  ait  charge. 
Is  it  not  time  for  this  entire  nation  to  wake  up  to  the  im 
minent  danger  which  threatens  to  overwhelm  them  and 
their  liberties.  England  aspires  to  be  the  mistress  of  me 
world,  she  seeks  to  dictate  to  every  power  on  eartii. 
Her  annual  expenditures  are  8110,000,000,  which  added 
to  the  support  of  a  national  church  and  the  interest  on  her 
national  debt  alone,  amounts  to  the  enormous  sum,  inde 
pendent  of  other  charges,  of  $210,000,000,  by  which,  the 
one-third  of  the  wages  of  every  laborer  is  consumed. 
Such  are  subject  to  a  capitation  tax.  Poor  creatures  ! 
plunged  in  poverty  and  wretchedness,  deprived  of  the  pit 
tance,  afforded  by  their  daily  earnings,  reduced  to  abso 
lute  starvation,  so  that  one-sixth  of  her  whole  population 
are  paupers.  And  yet  she  not  only  dares  to  dictate  to  this 
nation,  but  silently  smuggles  into  Jamaica  the  slaves  of 
the  south  and  south-west,  by  the  way  of  Canada,  free  of 
charge.  Her  emissaries  audaciously  attempt  to  insult 
alike  the  PRESIDENT  of  the  United  States  and  the  com 
mon  labourer,  the  minister  in  the  sacred  desk,  and  the 
hearer  in  his  pew.  We  have  before  us  at  this  moment  a 
letter  from  a  gentleman  in  England,  in  which  are  these 
remarks,  that  evidently  have  their  meaning. 

"Our  philanthropic  zeal  for  the  suppression  of  the 
slave  trade  makes  a  good  cloak  to  cover  our  jealousy 
of  your  commerce  there  and  in  the  Indian  Archipelago. 
I  cannot  but  deeply  regret  to  see  the  hostile  feeling  grow- 
in^-  up  in  this  country  against  America.  One  thing  has 
contributed  much  to  this  and  that  is  the  bitter  spirit 
of  the  abolitionists  here  towards  the  slave  states.* 
feeling  has  bqen  roused  up  of  late  by  the  vilest  ha 
rangues  of  some  delegates  from  the  American  Anti- 

*  See  the  Foreign  Quarterly  Review. 


344 

Slavery  party,  who  have  been  holding  forth  in  all  our 
large  towns  in  a  most  violent  manner.  When  they  hear 
all  these  things  from  Americans,  they  believe  them,  and 
truly  long  for  a  war,  in  order  to  land  some  few  thousands 
of  coloured  troops  from  Jamaica,  proclaim  liberty  to  the 
slaves  and  destroy  the  whole  union  by  a  servile  war. 
Such  is  the  wish  of  a  great  part  of  the  religious  world,  as 
they  (these  abolitionists)  call  themselves.  Depend  upon 
it,  your  abolitionists  at  home  and  their  delegates  here  have 
done  more  to  hinder  the  boundary  question  from  being 
fairly  settled,  than  any  other  class  of  people  or  any  indi 
vidual  whatever." 

Such  also  have  been  the  effects  of  abolitionism  in  the 
West  Indies,  that  not  long  since  an  attempt,  as  is  well 
known,  was  made  by  the  negroes  of  Jamaica  on  Cuba 
itself.  One  was  arrested  in  New  Orleans,  calling  himself 
a  British  subject,  who  hailed  from  the  same  island.  And 
what  will  be  the  end  if  these  things  be  permitted  by  those, 
who  may  stop  at  once  the  torrent  by  breasting  it.  We 
ask  once  for  all,  is  it  not  time  for  the  south  to  wake  up? 

The  day  has  certainly  come  for  action,  and  if  by  an 
intercourse,  the  result  of  trade,  our  peace  is  to  be  endan 
gered  ;  if  by  sending  our  SONS  and  DAUGHTERS  northward 
and  eastward  to  be  educated,  we  are  to  expose  their  feel 
ings  to  the  insults  of  a  fanaticism  the  vilest  imaginable ; 
if  by  the  admission  of  hawkers  and  pedlars  in  our  midst, 
we  are  to  open  our  doors  to  midnight  assassins,  wretches, 
who  would  stir  up  our  slaves  to  deeds  of  cruelty  and 
murder;  if  our  WIVES  and  DAUGHTERS  are  to  be  dis 
honoured,  our  sons,  brothers,  and  fathers  to  be  slaugh 
tered,  through  the  instrumentality  of  fanatics,  who, 
filled  with  spiritual  pride,  are  impertinent  in  audacity, 
dexterous  in  hypocrisy,  artful,  cunning,  low  in  their 
views,  and  base  in  their  purposes,  then  let  us  bid  the  north 
and  the  east  an  adieu  forever.*  Let  us  prepare  to  manu- 

*  A  gentleman  with  whom  we  are  personally  and  intimately  acquainted,  has 
been  travelling  and  visiting-  the  colleges  in  the  United  States,  to  interest  their 
professors  and  students,  and  induce  them  to  unite  with  thousands  of  others  who 
have  petitioned  congress  to  provide  a  school  for  soldiers'  children,  to  be  located 
on  a  portion  of  the  public  land  in  the  south.  He  called  on  one  of  the  northern 
colleges,  and  on  his  arrival  in  one  of  our  cities,  received  an  answer  that  they 
would  unite  in  his  petition,  provided  his  school  should  be  open  for  blacks  as 
well  as  whites. 


345 

facture  our  own  fabrics,  encourage  our  own  merchants, 
raise  up  and  liberally^endow  the  schools  and  colleges  of 
the  south,  educate  there  those  sons  and  daughters,  strong 
in  that  .very  union  which  is  denounced  by  northern  and 
eastern  fanatics.  Let  us  say  to  all  the  earth  that  the 
power,  mental,  moral  and  physical,  with  which  the  God 
of  nature  has  endowed  us,  and  all  the  advantages  arising 
from  the  strength  of  our  position,  shall  be  improved  and 
exercised  to  prevent  an  interference  in  the  internal  con 
cerns  of  our  states.  Let  no  man  or  set  of  men  dare  to 
meddle  with  our  rights,  civil  or  social,  individual  or  col 
lective,  religious  or  political. 

Brethren  of  the  north  and  the  south, — the  east  and  the 
west — once  more  we  appeal  to  you, — we  appeal  to  every 
American,  and  in  the  name  of  our  common  country  ask, 
will  you  permit  your  unnatural  enemies  to  urge  on  this 
glorious  union  to  a  dissolution  ?  Do  you  not  perceive  the 
tremendous  consequences  which  must  necessarily  ensue  ? 
Alas  !  they  cannot  be  fully  known  till  that  day  when  the 
earth  and  its  works  shall  be  burned  up.  A  part  of  them 
only  can  be  developed,  when  probably  it  is  too  late  to 
provide  an  ample  remedy.  The  history  of  fanaticism  is 
too  well  understood  for  you  to  trust  to  its  delusive  smiles — 
its  sycophantic  fa  w  flings — its  hypocritical  professions — 
its  whinings  and  rantings.  It  is  a  torrent  rushing  down  a 
tremendous  steep  ready  to  overwhelm  all  in  ruin.  It 
knows  nothing  of  selj -distrust  t  mcdcsty,  humility,  love 
and  Christian  forbearance.  Fanatics  and  enthusiasts  in 
their  own  estimation  are  ever  right,  and  their  notions 
and  dogmas  are  the  only  rule  of  faith  and  practice.  To 
this  you  must  bow  or  bear  their  curse.  Resists 
think,  is  an  iniquity  not  to  be  pardoned.  Can  it\  _-<rrtJ 
be  wrong,  in  view  of  all  these  facts,  for  us  to  rcnclude 
with  the  advice  of  HIM  "who  spake  as  never  man  sj^ake?" 
"WHAT  I  SAY  UNTO  OKE,  I  SAY  UKTO'ALL, 
WATCH." 


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